Very low asthma death incidence among Finnish children from 1999 to 2015

The most recent reports concerning asthma fatalities in Finnish children are from 1998. Since that time, asthma care has improved and asthma-related hospitalizations have decreased. Yet, it is unknown whether pediatric asthma deaths have similarly decreased.

To investigate the epidemiology of asthma deaths in the Finnish pediatric population from 1999 onward and to describe the details of fatal asthma exacerbations.

We obtained copies of the death certificates from Statistics Finland of all Finnish children aged 0-19 years who died from asthma between 1999 and 2015. After analyzing the death certificates, the medical records of those with possible asthma death were evaluated in detail to confirm the diagnosis. Incidence rates (IR) of asthma deaths were estimated per 1 000 000 person-years by dividing the number of asthma deaths by the total number of person-years.

Between 1999-2015, there were 6845 deaths among 0-19 year-old children, of which 21 were possible asthma deaths. Based on patient records and pathological findings, we identified four convincing asthma deaths: aged 7 months, 1 year, 2.5 years, and 19 years. None had known allergies or regularly used inhaled corticosteroids. No pre-school or school-aged children died from asthma in Finland between 1999 and 2015. The cumulative incidence of pediatric asthma deaths was 0.19 per million person-years.

Four Finnish children died from asthma between 1999 and 2015. This corresponds to a total incidence of 0.19 per million person-years. No pre-school or school-aged children died from asthma in Finland during the study period.