30 Jul 2023 • A study published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice found that children with poorer mental and social health measures experienced more emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations for asthma. The study involved 83 children aged 6 to 17 years. Cluster analysis identified two groups of children based on their medical visits and hospitalizations for asthma attacks in the year after discharge from the hospital. Children in the second cluster, who had overall poorer measures of mental and social health, were more likely to visit the ED and urgent care for asthma symptoms and reported using albuterol more frequently compared to the first cluster. They also had a higher hazard ratio for experiencing an asthma exacerbation within a year of hospital discharge, although this difference was not statistically significant. The second cluster had higher rates of seeking medical care in an ED or urgent care and higher rates of hospitalization during the follow-up year compared to the first cluster. The researchers concluded that there is a subgroup of children with life-threatening asthma and poorer mental and social health measures who are at higher risk of ED utilization and hospitalization for asthma exacerbations. Increased awareness of the impact of asthma on the mental and social health of these children may help healthcare providers identify those at high risk for exacerbations and hospitalizations.

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