[A registry study of hospital admissions of children with asthma and bronchitis in different counties].
BACKGROUND
In Denmark, asthma is the most widespread chronic childhood disease, imposing great demands on the health services. Considerable variations exist among Danish counties with respect to the percentage of asthmatic children treated by general practitioners and paediatric specialists, which makes it relevant to investigate whether there are differences among Danish counties in admission and readmission rates to hospitals in relation to the capacity of the outpatient clinics.


METHODS
We performed a cross-sectional study using county-level aggregated data derived from the National Hospital Register and from StatBank Denmark documenting hospital admissions and visits to outpatient clinics in 2001 of children aged 0-4 years and 5-14 years with asthma or bronchitis. The chi2-test was used to calculate the differences by county.


RESULTS
The results showed statistically significant differences among the counties in hospital admission rates, readmission rates and number of visits to outpatient clinics.


CONCLUSIONS
The differences among counties in admission rates and number of visits to outpatient clinics indicate that there are considerable variations in the amount of specialist resources being allocated to management of childhood asthma. No study results are available about where asthmatic children are treated most advantageously, which makes further research relevant in view of the large differences in use of resources.
Moth
Grete
G
Dansk BørneAstma Center, Arhus, og Børneafdelingen, Arhus Universitetshospital, Skejby Sygehus. gmoth@svf.au.dk
Schiøtz
Peter Oluf
PO
D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000628:therapy*; D001991:Bronchitis / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D002673:Child, Hospitalized / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012042:Registries