Trends in hospitalization among asthmatic children in Finland from 1972 to 1986

Trends in hospitalization among asthmatic children were examined over a period of 15 years on the basis of a hospital discharge register covering all hospitals in Finland. The annual mean population under 15 years of age, 992,994, had a total of 37,965 hospitalization periods on account of asthma du...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEuropean journal of pediatrics Vol. 152; no. 12; p. 1042
Main Authors Tuuponen, T, Keistinen, T, Kivelä, S L
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Germany 01.12.1993
Subjects
Adolescent
Age Factors
Asthma - epidemiology
Child
Child, Preschool
Female
Finland - epidemiology
Hospitalization - trends
Humans
Infant
Length of Stay
Male
Prevalence
Sex Factors
Finland
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Summary:Trends in hospitalization among asthmatic children were examined over a period of 15 years on the basis of a hospital discharge register covering all hospitals in Finland. The annual mean population under 15 years of age, 992,994, had a total of 37,965 hospitalization periods on account of asthma during the interval studied. Examination in 5 year age groups showed treatment periods for boys under 5 years to have increased by 1.8% annually relative to the total population (95% confidence interval +0.6(-)+3.1) and those for girls by 22% (95% CI +0.7(-)+3.7), whereas the changes in the older age groups were insignificant. First admissions decreased annually in all age groups in the case of both boys and girls. The numbers of hospitalization periods due to asthma were significantly higher for boys than for girls. The use of hospital services by asthmatic children was appropriate during the period concerned, which may partly be explained by the fact that child health care is well organized in Finland and the treatment of childhood asthma entirely in the hands of paediatricians.
ISSN:0340-6199
DOI:10.1007/BF01957234