Acute childhood asthma in Finland: A retrospective review of hospital admissions from 1976 to 1995

The prevalence of childhood asthma has increased markedly in many Western s ocieties during recent decades. We wanted to study whether the incidence an d severity of childhood asthma in Finland had changed during the time-perio d 1976-95. Hospital admission rates from 1976 to 1995 were obtained from th e National Hospital Discharge Register and the individual intensive care un it (ICU) registers of the five university hospitals in Finland. The number and length of treatment periods for childhood asthma in all Finnish hospita ls and at the ICUs of the five university hospitals were analyzed, The numb er of children receiving special reimbursement for asthma medication costs was obtained from the central register of the Social Insurance Institution. The data showed that during the time-period investigated, hospital admissi ons as a result of asthma had increased by 2.8-fold, but the mean length of hospital stay had more than halved (from 7.3 to 2.6 days). The increase in hospital admissions showed greatest significance in the 0-4-year age-group among both sexes (p < 0.001). In contrast, a significant reduction in hosp ital admissions was found among the 10 14-year age-group (p < 0.001). No di scernible change in admission to ICUs was seen. During the same time-period , the number of children receiving special reimbursement for asthma medicat ion costs increased 7.5-fold, Hence, a major increase has occurred in the n umber of children diagnosed with asthma that has not been paralleled by a p roportionate increase in the number of hospital admissions. While the preva lence of mild and moderate asthma has increased, the occurrence of severe a sthma has remained essentially unchanged.