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Published on: November 4, 2010

Childhood asthma: ED follow-up determinants

Lynn Carole Smith1

  • 1Northern College of Applied Arts and Technology, Timmins, ON, Canada. smithly@northern.on.ca

Journal of Emergency Nursing
|September 15, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Many children with asthma do not receive recommended follow-up care after an emergency department visit. Lower maternal education and severe asthma increase the risk of missed follow-up appointments.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Emergency Medicine
  • Asthma Management
  • Health Services Research

Background:

  • Childhood asthma necessitates effective follow-up care to prevent exacerbations.
  • Emergency department (ED) visits for asthma often indicate a need for improved outpatient management.
  • Understanding determinants of follow-up care is crucial for optimizing asthma outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To identify predisposing, enabling, and need characteristics differentiating families who obtain asthma follow-up care from those who do not.
  • To investigate factors influencing adherence to recommended follow-up after pediatric emergency department visits for asthma.

Main Methods:

  • Comparative correlational study involving 63 children presenting to a pediatric ED.
  • Logistic regression analysis to determine predictors of follow-up care within 30 days of the ED visit.
  • Dichotomous outcome variable: follow-up care adherence.

Main Results:

  • A significant majority (67%) of children did not receive recommended follow-up care.
  • Maternal education level was significantly associated with failure to follow up (P = .0282).
  • Higher odds of no follow-up were observed for children with more severe asthma (OR 12.44) and older mothers (OR 2.14).

Conclusions:

  • Current follow-up rates for childhood asthma after ED visits are suboptimal.
  • Maternal education, asthma severity, and maternal age are key factors influencing follow-up adherence.
  • Further research is essential to identify determinants and develop interventions to improve asthma care and outcomes.
Abstract

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