Changing patterns of asthma hospitalization among children: 1979 to 1987.
The National Hospital Discharge Survey was used to evaluate the trends in asthma hospitalizations among children under International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM): 1979 to 1987. During this period, asthma hospitalizations among children aged 0 to 17 years increased 4.5% per annum (95% confidence interval [Cl], 2% to 7.1%). The increase was largest among 0 to 4 year olds, 5.0% per annum (95% Cl, 3.4% to 6.7%), vs 2.9% per annum (95% Cl, -0.3% to 6.2%) observed among 5 to 17 year olds. Among children aged 0 to 4 years, blacks had approximately 1.8 times the increase of whites. During this time, total hospitalizations decreased -4.6% (95% Cl, -6.6% to -2.5%), while admissions for lower respiratory tract disease had a statistically insignificant decrease: -1.3%. Acute and chronic/unspecified bronchitis hospitalizations decreased -6.1% (95% Cl, -9.4% to -2.7%), but this decrease did not begin until 1983. Thus, a shift in coding from bronchitis to asthma does not seem to fully explain the increase.
Gergen
P J
PJ
Division of Health Examination Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control, Hyattsville, MD 20782.
Weiss
K B
KB
D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000628:therapy; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005381:Financing, Organized / Q000639:trends; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007440:Intubation; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012151:Resuscitation; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology