Asthma hospitalizations among US military personnel, 1994 to 2004.
BACKGROUND
Acute asthma attacks strike unpredictably and may lead to hospitalization in otherwise healthy individuals. The burden of asthma hospitalization on the US health care system has greatly interested health care workers, many of whom see the incidence of asthma as increasing.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the annual incidence of hospitalization and the frequency of subsequent hospitalization for asthma among all active-duty US military personnel between 1994 and 2004 and to determine demographic and occupational risk factors of asthma hospitalization within this generally healthy US population.


METHODS
Annual demographic and occupational data were combined with electronic hospitalization records for patients with a discharge diagnosis of asthma. Using Cox proportional hazard modeling, the authors investigated demographic and occupational risk factors for asthma hospitalization.


RESULTS
Women, married persons, health care workers, enlisted personnel, US Army personnel, and older persons were found to have a significantly greater risk of asthma hospitalization. Yearly rates of hospitalization declined from 22.3 per 100,000 persons to 12.6 per 100,000 persons between 1994 and 2004.


CONCLUSIONS
Although these data have some limitations, they suggest that the burden of asthma hospitalizations in the large, healthy population of US military personnel has declined during the last decade. The decrease in hospitalization potentially reflects improved outpatient management strategies.
Hansen
Christian J
CJ
Department of Defense Center for Deployment Health Research, Naval Health Research Center, San Diego, California 92186-5122, USA. Hansen@nhrc.navy.mil
Russell
Kevin L
KL
Smith
Tyler C
TC
Neville
James S
JS
Krauss
Margot R
MR
Ryan
Margaret A K
MA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008889:Military Personnel; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors