Predictors of hospital admission due to asthma in children and adolescents enrolled in an asthma control program.

OBJECTIVE To determine the clinical characteristics and the predictors of hospital admission due to asthma among children and adolescents with asthma under treatment at a referral center. METHODS A retrospective cohort study comprising 151 children and adolescents with asthma, referred from the Unified Health Care System and enrolled in the Asthma and Allergic Rhinitis Control Program in the city of Feira de Santana, Brazil, followed for a period of 12 months and receiving asthma medication at no cost. The chi-square test was used in order to determine the associations between the studied variables and the occurrence of hospital admissions, whereas the Mann-Whitney test was used for the comparison between the groups of hospitalized patients and nonhospitalized patients. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05. Univariate analysis with logistic regression was performed in order to determine the predictors of hospital admission. RESULTS Of the 151 patients evaluated, 8 (5.2%) were hospitalized, in a total of 12 hospital admissions. In the univariate analysis, the only variable found to be a predictive factor was greater asthma severity (OR = 13.3; 95% CI: 2.55-70.1). CONCLUSIONS The fact that, in our study sample, the principal predictor of hospital admission was greater asthma severity, calls for special attention being given to the care of these patients.