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Emergency department visits and hospitalisations for emergent asthmatic symptoms from 2014 to 2016: cross-sectional study in Korea

Choi K, Han S, Suh HS

BMJ open, 2020

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…

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Evidence Hub reads this as a cross-sectional, done in people. Its evidence level is 4 of 5 (Low · observational). Observational designs can show an association but not prove cause.

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