1. Asthma medication ratio predicts emergency department visits and hospitalizations in children with asthma
- Author
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William T. Basco, Annie Lintzenich Andrews, Teufel Rj nd, and Annie N. Simpson
- Subjects
South carolina ,Male ,Pediatrics ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Adolescent ,South Carolina ,Article ,Health care ,Medicine ,Humans ,Anti-Asthmatic Agents ,Child ,Asthma ,Retrospective Studies ,business.industry ,Medicaid ,Health Policy ,Retrospective cohort study ,General Medicine ,Emergency department ,Asthma medication ,medicine.disease ,Registered trademark ,United States ,Hospitalization ,Treatment Outcome ,Child, Preschool ,Emergency medicine ,Female ,business ,Emergency Service, Hospital - Abstract
OBJECTIVE To determine if the asthma medication ratio predicts subsequent emergency department (ED) visits and hospital admissions in children. DESIGN Retrospective cohort with two year pairs. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS 2007-2009 South Carolina Medicaid recipients with persistent asthma age 2-18. MAIN EXPOSURE Controller-to-total asthma medication ratios were calculated for each patient in 2007 and 2008. Ratios range from 0-1 (1 = ideal, 0 = no controller). OUTCOME MEASURES 2008 and 2009 asthma related ED visits, hospitalizations, and a combined outcome of ED visit or hospitalization in the subsequent 3, 6, and 12 month time periods. RESULTS 19,512 patients were included. Mean age 8.9 years, 58% male, and 55% black. The ratio significantly predicted ED visits and hospitalizations over subsequent 3, 6, and 12 month time periods. The cut-point that maximized the ability to predict visits ranged from 0.4-0.6. A cutpoint of 0.5 was used in the final models. After controlling for age, race, gender, and rurality, patients with a ratio
- Published
- 2014