Asthma-related hospital use among Finnish asthmatics of working age

The aim was to examine asthma-related use of hospital services among persons of working age (15-64 years) in Finland on the basis of hospital discharge registers over a period of 15 years. A total of 155,080 asthma-induced treatment periods and 1,270,453 hospitalisation days were observed in the working-age population during the period concerned. Although the use of hospital services was found to be smallest in the second youngest male age-group (25-34 years), the numbers of treatment periods and hospitalisation days observed among men relative to population were found to increase by age. Middle-aged (35-44) female asthmatics tend to use hospital services more often than men of the same age, but no difference was observed between the sexes in the oldest age-group (55-64 years). The long-term monitoring and guidance of asthmatics and the specialist services required should be coordinated within the basic health care system as in the case of other chronic diseases. The long-term monitoring of asthmatics should be performed by general practitioners, and in the light of the present findings special emphasis should be placed on subjects aged 35 years and older.