S7 Annual trends in asthma emergency attendance, hospital admission and readmission

Abstract

Conclusions Immigrants have a high prevalence of LTBI but current NICE guidance detects only 38.2% of new entrants with LTBI. Given the high rates of reactivation of LTBI in new entrants, our findings suggest that consideration should be given to reducing the screening threshold to include those from the Indian Subcontinent (incidence 170/100 000) which would result in 67.8% of all LTBI cases being identified.

Asthma Length of Stay in Hospitals in London 2001–2006: Demographic, Diagnostic and Temporal Factors

“…Asthma hospital admissions and their associated lengths of stay place a substantial burden on the health services, carers, and individual asthma sufferers [1] , [3] , [5] . Between 2001 and 2006, there were 56,832 asthma admissions in London associated with 40,359 individuals, accounting for around 170,500 days of hospitalised care; a finding consistent with earlier research [20] , [35] , [36] . The number of hospital admissions increased from 8,308 to 10,554 between 2001 and 2006, while the actual length of stay associated with each admission reduced significantly.…”

“…Zero days of admission, however, do not imply zero time or zero cost, and the measure does not reflect admissions of nearly 24 hours (underestimating LOS), or the high costs of monitoring and testing that occur early in the admission cycle. The full burden on hospitals is, therefore, likely to be higher than might be reflected here [20]. The interpretation of the results, therefore need to separate issues of bed occupancy from the total cost (and time distribution) of management and care.…”

“…Some other earlier studies on LOS for asthma hospitalisation in the UK (Scotland) focussed on the trends in asthma admissions and how changes in hospital bed occupancy could measure resource use [5] . In that study, and others similar to it [20] , [21] , [22] , they described the trends in the percentage change in asthma admission rates with respect to temporal and demographic explanatory variables (e.g., year of admission, aggregate ages and gender). Such studies have, however, not been sufficient in predicting or explaining the LOS for asthma sufferers, whilst accounting for variations in demographic and temporal factors.…”