Abstract
To assume that the length of stay in hospital depends on whether a patient lives alone or not belongs to conventional wisdom in social epidemiology. In the DTI (diagnosis- and therapy) index of Infratest Health Research a randomly selected number of patients of German acute hospitals was asked whether they were living alone or not. Measuring the average length of stay in hospital and the average success of treatment with these data, only a marginal effect of the variable "social situation" remains after correcting for age. The social situation is a very influential variable, however, when considering where patients are released to. A much greater margin of male and female geriatric patients of acute hospitals leave the hospital to go into institutions of long term care and into other hospitals. The social situation proves to be less important within the acute hospital, but to have a severe influence in the process of leaving it.
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