Table 2 Health care services and medication utilization related to severity
|
Total n = 20,410 |
Mild intermittent n = 14,191 |
Mild Persistent n = 3680 |
Moderate Persistent n = 1408 |
Severe persistent n = 1131 | p-valuea | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medical services (n, %)b | ||||||
| ED visits* | 721 (3.5) | – | 462 (12.5) | 163 (11.5) | 96 (8.5) | < 0.001 |
| Mean (SD)c | 1.1 (0.5) | – | 1 (0) | 1.3 (0.5) | 1.4 (1.1) | |
| Hospitalizations* | 1137 (5.5) | – | 495 (13.4) | 278 (19.7) | 364 (32.1) | < 0.001 |
| Mean (SD)c | 1.6 (1.6) | – | 1 (0) | 1.5 (0.6) | 2.5 (2.6) | |
| Specialized physician visits | 5764 (28.2) | 3539 (24.9) | 1057 (28.7) | 578 (41.0) | 590 (52.1) | < 0.001 |
| General physician visits | 11,685 (57.2) | 8445 (59.5) | 1761 (47.8) | 755 (53.6) | 724 (64.1) | < 0.001 |
| Other ambulatory services | 1653 (8.1) | 1009 (7.1) | 297 (8.0) | 160 (11.3) | 187 (16.5) | < 0.001 |
| Total frequency of any medical service | 17,059 (83.5) | 11,933 (84.1) | 2923 (79.4) | 1167 (82.8) | 1036 (91.6) | 0.026 |
| Asthma medication prescriptions (n, %)b | ||||||
| Controller medications | ||||||
| ICS | 4841 (23.7) | 1777 (12.5) | 1410 (38.3) | 821 (58.3) | 833 (73.6) | < 0.001 |
| ICS + LABA | 487 (2.4) | 32 (0.2) | 88 (2.4) | 171 (12.1) | 196 (17.3) | < 0.001 |
| LABA | 188 (0.9) | 18 (0.1) | 65 (1.7) | 38 (2.7) | 67 (5.9) | < 0.001 |
| LM | 660 (3.2) | 0 (0) | 221 (6.0) | 154 (10.9) | 285 (25.2) | < 0.001 |
| Theophylline | 240 (1.1) | 36 (0.2) | 62 (1.6) | 63 (4.4) | 79 (6.9) | < 0.001 |
| Rescue Medications | ||||||
| Oral corticosteroids | 4594 (22.5) | 399 (2.8) | 2236 (60.7) | 998 (70.8) | 961 (84.9) | < 0.001 |
| SABA | 4911 (24.0) | 1242 (8.7) | 1798 (48.8) | 946 (67.2) | 925 (81.8) | < 0.001 |
| Total frequency of any medication | 9509 (46.6) | 3880 (27.3) | 3183 (86.5) | 1336 (94.9) | 1110 (98.1) | < 0.001 |