Short-term holding room treatment of asthmatic children.
We undertook a randomized trial to compare holding room treatment vs hospitalization of patients with childhood status asthmaticus. Two thirds of 51 patients were discharged from a holding room within 24 hours (mean 11.8 +/- 4.61 hours); the others required hospitalization. One third of 52 hospitalized patients received less than or equal to 1 day of intravenously administered therapy, and two thirds received less than 2 days of therapy (mean 45.6 +/- 12 hours). There were no statistically significant differences in recurrence rates between the two groups in the 28 days following status asthmaticus. For patients receiving less than or equal to 1 day of therapy, the holding room cost was $526 +/- $226 vs $1439 +/- $339 for hospitalized patients (P less than 0.001). Thus, holding room therapy for childhood status asthmaticus is both medically and economically effective.
D000628:Aminophylline / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001249:Asthma / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011897:Random Allocation; D012008:Recurrence; D013224:Status Asthmaticus / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000628:therapy*
D000628:Aminophylline