Early action prevents asthma admissions
Asthma is the most common cause of hospitalization in American children, and the number of children admitted to the hospital each year for asthma has increased in the past 10 years. Researchers at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, CA, found that parents who take effective measures at home against asthma flare-ups in their children can prevent the serious symptoms that send children to the hospital or emergency department (ED).
Kaiser Permanente compared 508 children with asthma who were hospitalized or visited the ED during a six month period in 1995 with 990 children matched for age, gender, and number of prior hospitalizations who did not go to the hospital or ED in the same six months. Researchers found that the parents of children who stayed out of the hospital or ED were much more likely to have a written asthma management plan from their child’s physician.
Parents whose children were not hospitalized also were more likely to take the following preventive measures:
• wash bed sheets in hot water at least twice a month;
• start or increase medication when the child developed a cold or flu.
The study, "Outpatient management practices associated with reduced risk of pediatric asthma hospitalization and emergency department visits," was presented by Kaiser researchers in May at the Society for Pediatric Research national meeting in Washington, DC. The study will also be published later this year in the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
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