Gastroenterology service in a teaching hospital in rural New Zealand, 1991-2003

Table 3 Procedure numbers and patient demographics

	Yr
	1991	1997	2003
Colonoscopy
No. of procedures	638	580	692
Rate per 10 000 population1	34	31	36
Age mean (SD)	57.3 (14.5)	58.2 (15.0)	59.4 (14.7)
Female n (%)2	319/632 (50)	295/537 (55)	349/692 (50)
Gastroscopy
No. of procedures	1439	1812	1544
Rate per 10 000 population1	77	96	80
Age mean (SD)	58.9 (17.9)	58.1 (17.5)	58.4 (18.6)
Female n (%)2	726/1432 (51)	824/1595 (52)	793/1540 (51)

¹Estimates of the Otago population obtained from the Ministry of Social Development website: http://www.socialreport.msd.govt.nz/regional/r-councils/otago.html;

²Denominator given as data on sex was not available for all patients.