Emergency department visits and hospitalisations for emergent asthmatic symptoms from 2014 to 2016: cross-sectional study in Korea. Issue 8 (13th August 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Choi, Kyungseon; Han, Sola; Suh, Hae Sun
• Is Part Of: BMJ open. Volume 10:Issue 8(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-08-13
• Subjects: asthma -- accident & emergency medicine -- public health -- intensive & critical care; Medicine -- Research -- Periodicals; 610.72
• DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-036237
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2044-6055

Abstract

Abstract : Objective: To evaluate the characteristics of emergent patients with asthma who visited emergency departments (EDs) in Korea, and the consequences of these visits. Design: Retrospective cross-sectional study. Setting: We used data from the National Emergency Department Information System database from 2014 to 2016. The data included reports collected from 408 EDs in Korea. Participants: We analysed the ED cases for asthma-related emergent symptoms that met the following inclusion criteria: (1) had a main diagnosis code of asthma (International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision code: J45/J46), and (2) recorded as an emergent symptom in the EDs. Results: During 2014–2016, there were 58 713 ED visits related to an asthma diagnosis with emergent symptoms. Following an ED visit, 31.69% were hospitalised, of which 89.88% were admitted to the general wards, and 10.12% to the intensive care units (ICUs). More than 50% of the hospitalised cases included in the group ≥70 years of age. The incidence of death during hospitalisation generally increased with age and the proportion of death in ICU exceeded 10% among the group ≥70 years. The ratio of ICU/general ward admission at the arrival time of 0–03:00, in the ≥60 years age group was the highest compared with other times of the day and age groups. Conclusions: We found that among all age groups, ED visits by older patients resulted in more ICU admissions. Our results can help in providing a better understanding of medical resource utilisation by emergent patients with asthma.