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Health-care utilization and costs in Taiwanese pediatric patients with asthma
Hai-Lun Sun1, Yea-Huei Kao, Tsung-Hsueh Lu
1Department of Pediatrics, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
Insights
Pediatric asthma patients in Taiwan utilized significantly more healthcare services and incurred higher costs than their non-asthma peers. Asthma care accounted for 20% of their total health services, with outpatient visits being the primary cost driver.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric healthcare utilization
- Health economics
- Respiratory medicine
Background:
- Asthma is a significant global health burden, often prioritized in national health strategies.
- Comprehensive data on healthcare costs and utilization for pediatric asthma patients are lacking in Taiwan.
- Understanding these patterns is crucial for effective resource allocation and policy development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze healthcare utilization and associated costs for pediatric asthma patients in Taiwan.
- To establish baseline data for future assessments of asthma care impact.
Main Methods:
- A retrospective study analyzed 33,461 patients aged 3-17 from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research database (2002).
- Healthcare utilization (office, outpatient, emergency, inpatient visits) and costs were compared between pediatric patients with and without asthma.
Main Results:
- The period prevalence of treated pediatric asthma was 6.0% in 2002.
- Asthmatic children used more healthcare services across all categories, with 2.2-fold higher overall expenditure compared to non-asthmatic children.
- Asthma-related care constituted 20% of total services for these patients; 75% of asthma costs stemmed from outpatient visits.
Conclusions:
- Pediatric asthma significantly increases healthcare utilization and expenditure in Taiwan.
- Outpatient visits are the main driver of asthma-related costs in this population.
- The findings provide essential baseline data for evaluating future trends in pediatric asthma care and costs.
Background:
In many countries, the burden of asthma is sufficient to warrant recognition as a high-priority disorder in governmental health strategies. However, the components of the total health-care costs for pediatric patients with asthma have not been well studied, and an overall understanding of health-care utilization patterns in this population is lacking in Taiwan.
Methods:
A total of 33 461 patients aged 3-17 years who were enrolled in the National Health Insurance Research database from 1 January to 31 December 2002 were evaluated. Health-care utilization and costs, including those related to office, outpatient hospital, emergency department, and inpatient hospital visits were compared between pediatric patients with and without asthma.
Results:
In 2002, the period prevalence of treated asthma was 6.0%. Pediatric patients with asthma used substantially more services than did those without asthma in all categories. Hospital outpatient visits and overall health-care expenditure for patients with asthma were 2.2-fold higher than those of patients without asthma. Asthma care represented 20% of all health-care services that patients with asthma received, while the remaining 80% were for non-asthma care. Almost three-fourths of all asthma-related costs were attributable to office and hospital outpatient visits; one-fourth was attributable to urgent care and hospitalizations.
Conclusions:
These findings may serve as baseline data for future evaluation of changes in health-care utilization and expenditure among pediatric patients with asthma.
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