Admission patterns for childhood acute asthma: Christchurch 1974-89.
OBJECTIVE
to examine trends in hospital admission for acute childhood asthma in Christchurch over the period 1974-89.


METHODS
trends in the estimated annual rates of admission and readmission for asthma were compared between boys and girls in each of three age groups: 0-4 years, 5-9 years, 10-13 years.


RESULTS
for both sexes there was a 4.5-5 fold increase in overall rates of admission during the survey period. Boys on average had higher admission rates than girls with this effect being most marked in the preschool age group. Since the mid 1980s there has been a changing pattern of admissions with a downward trend in admission rates for school aged children and a continuing upward trend in the preschool age group. An alarming new trend is a rise in the numbers of preschool girls admitted with acute asthma: admission rates for this group have shown a three-fold increase since 1983.


CONCLUSIONS
possible reasons for the changing pattern of admissions are discussed, with emphasis on the possible role of the increased use of cromoglycate and inhaled steroid in older children. Further research is needed to determine whether the trends in these data are reflected throughout the country.
Horwood
L J
LJ
Department of Paediatrics, Christchurch School of Medicine.
Dawson
K P
KP
Mogridge
N
N
D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003625:Data Collection; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006761:Hospitals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012737:Sex Factors; D013997:Time Factors