Large-Scale Data Analytics of the Romanian National Inpatient Database: Prevalence, Incidence, and Mortality of Chronic Wounds, 2017–2022

Background: Assessing the national burden of chronic wounds is a complex data an-alytics challenge. Robust estimates in Eastern Europe are scarce, highlighting the need for computational methods to validate cases in large-scale health databases. Methods: We applied a large-scale data analytics approach to Romania’s National Inpatient Database (public hospitals, 2017–2022). A computational case-ascertainment algorithm (validated “≥2 admissions” rule) was used to identify recurrently hospitalised patients, establishing a cohort of 18,856 patients (65,771 hospitalisations). We computed annual prevalence, incidence, and mortality per 100,000 adults, stratified by ulcer categories, age, and sex. Results: Annual prevalence peaked in 2018 (56.14/100,000) and dropped sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic (22.64/100,000 in 2021), with partial recovery in 2022 (30.61/100,000). Incidence followed a similar trend, peaking in 2018 (28.80/100,000) and rebounding modestly in 2022 (7.17/100,000). Mortality remained low but variable (0.21–0.38/100,000). Venous ulcers were the most common category. Pressure ulcers, though least prevalent, had the highest mortality. Adults aged ≥65 years and men had the highest prevalence and incidence. Conclusions: Our data an-alytics framework successfully characterized Romania’s hospital-treated chron-ic-wound burden, revealing that it is substantial, sensitive to pandemic-related dis-ruptions, and disproportionately affects adults aged ≥65 years and men while venous ulcers were the predominant wound category and pressure ulcers carried the highest mortality risk. Clinical implications: Early detection and dedicated care pathways should prioritize these high-risk strata to reduce readmissions and preventable deaths.