The burden of asthma is thought to be greater for younger and non-White children due to severity of the disease and limited access to health care.  Hospital discharge data is collected and can be used to monitor the number of inpatient care episodes related to many preventive-care sensitive conditions, including asthma. These data represent admissions, not unduplicated patients in a year. 
In this study, hospital records in one northeastern state were linked to unique patients over a seven-year period. The files indicated 21,016 children (ages one to 14 years) accounted for 30,400 hospitalizations. In this group, 22.9% of the children had a repeat admission in a one-year interval, and nearly 12% had at least one repeat admission within 180 days of a prior discharge. 

Children were grouped by ages 1-4 years, 5-9 years and 10-14 years. Hospitalization rates generally decreased by age. The risk of hospitalization for Hispanic children was twice that of white children of comparable age and gender; the risk for black children was about four times that of white children.
While rates of hospitalization generally declined with age, there were ethnic and gender group differences.  The rates of readmission within 180 days for black girls actually increased from 16% (ages 1-4 years) to 20% (5- 9 years) to 29% (10-14 years).

The surveillance of hospital readmissions for asthma offers a tool to examine racial/ethnic disparities that may be related to limited access to care, inadequate management of environmental triggers, and insufficient preventive care.

(Wallace J, Denk C and Kruse L. Preventing Chronic Disease [serial online] 2004 Apr. Available from URL: http:// www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2004/apr/03 0009.htm.

Comment:  This is a new electronic publication from the CDC.  --J.O.