Background: National asthma guidelines recommend an outpatient follow-up after hospitalization for asthma. Our aim is determine if a follow-up visit within 30 days after an asthma hospitalization impacts risk for re-hospitalization and emergency department visits for asthma within the following year.
Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of claims data of Texas Children's Health Plan (a Medicaid managed care program) members age 1 to <18 years and hospitalized for asthma between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2018. Primary outcomes were days to re-hospitalization and emergency department visit between 30 days and 365 days following the index hospitalization.
Results: We identified 1,485 children age 1 to <18 years hospitalized for asthma. Comparing those with a 30 day follow-up to those without, there was no difference in days to re-hospitalization (adjusted hazard ratio 1.23, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.74-2.06) or emergency department visit for asthma (aHR 1.08, 95% CI 0.88-1.33). Inhaled corticosteroid and short acting beta agonist dispensing were greater in the group completing the 30 day follow-up (means of 2.8 and 4.8 respectively for those with follow-up, 1.6 and 3.5 respectively for those without, p < 0.0001).
Conclusion: Having a follow-up outpatient visit within 30 days of an asthma hospitalization is not associated with a decrease in asthma re-hospitalization or emergency department visit in the 30-365 day period following the index hospitalization. Non-adherence to regular use of inhaled corticosteroid medication was high in both groups. These findings suggest need for improvement in the quality and quantity of post hospital asthma follow-up.
Keywords: Asthma; hospital medicine; pediatrics.