RESUMO
Background: the admission rate for bronchial asthma has increased dramatically all over the world. Part of this increase in hospital admissions is due to patient readmission, which has an impact on children's quality of life, lost productivity and reduced participation in family life in addition To health care cost
Objective: to identify the risk factors for readmission because of acute asthmatic attacks. If these risk factors could be eliminated, there would be potential savings for health services, familial expenses and improvement in the quality of life of the whole family
Subjects: children attending Emergency Room [ER], Pediatric Intensive Care Unit [PICU] and inpatient wards of Alexandria University Children's Hospital, Alexandria, Egypt in the period from Sept. 2013 to Jul. 2015 aged 14 years or less of both sex
Methods: case control study in children who were admitted because of acute asthma attacks. The study was divided into two groups, group readmitted within one year from first admission [group A] and group firstly admitted [group B] and the factors that might have affected readmission were evaluated
Results: age in-group A ranged 4.5-13 with mean value 9.09+/- 3.98. Age in-group B ranged 4-14 years with mean value 8.65+/- 4.01. Males are more than females in both groups, and no sex differentiation effects on readmission. The duration of the disease in readmitted group in our study ranged from 1-8 years, it is a risk factor for acute asthma exacerbation readmission. Viral infection, common cold and dust as asthma triggers are risk factors for acute asthma exacerbation readmission. Regarding disease severity it was found that there was a higher percentage of hospitalization among cases with severe and moderate bronchial asthma compared to mild cases and it was found that readmission cases had more number of acute asthmatic attacks per month and have more sleep disturbance and lack of school attendance. Regarding taking controller medication in between attacks, it was found that readmission group take more controller medication
Conclusion: the prevalence of readmission rate increased dramatically, the duration of the disease, viral infections, common cold, dust and exercise as an asthma triggers are the risk factors for acute asthma exacerbation readmission, severity of the disease and controller medications affect acute asthma exacerbation readmission