Mortality in patients hospitalized for asthma exacerbations in the United States.

RATIONALE Hospitalizations for asthma exacerbations are common in the United States, but there are no national estimates of outcomes in this population. It is also not known if race disparities in asthma deaths exist among hospitalized patients. OBJECTIVES To estimate outcomes of patients hospitalized for asthma in the United States and to determine if the risk of death in this population is higher among black patients compared with white patients. METHODS We used the Nationwide Inpatient Sample for 2000. Admissions for asthma exacerbations among patients > 5 yr of age were included. Mortality was the primary outcome; secondary outcomes were length of stay and total hospital charges. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS In-hospital asthma mortality was 0.5% (99% confidence interval [CI], 0.4-0.6), with mean hospital stay of 2.7 d (99% CI, 2.6-2.8 d) and 9,078 dollars (99% CI, 8,300-9,855 dollars) in hospital charges. Deaths in this population accounted for about one-third of all asthma deaths reported in the United States. Black patients hospitalized for asthma exacerbations were less likely to die when compared with white patients (0.3 vs. 0.6%; p < 0.001). However, in multivariable analyses, there were no significant race differences in hospital deaths. CONCLUSIONS Mortality among patients hospitalized for asthma exacerbations accounts for one-third of all deaths from asthma. The higher overall risk of death from asthma in black patients compared with white patients in the United States is not explained by race differences in hospital deaths and therefore is attributable to factors preceding hospitalization.