scholarly journals Cartography of Emergency Department Visits for Asthma – Targeting High-Morbidity Populations

2004 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 427-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Lajoie ◽  
Andrée Laberge ◽  
Germain Lebel ◽  
Louis-Philippe Boulet ◽  
Marie Demers ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND:Asthma education should be offered with priority to populations with the highest asthma-related morbidity. In the present study, the aim was to identify populations with high-morbidity for asthma from the Quebec Health Insurance Board Registry, a large administrative database, to help the Quebec Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Network target its interventions.METHODS:All emergency department (ED) visits for asthma were analyzed over a one-year period, considering individual and medical variables. Age- and sex-adjusted rates, as well as standardized rate ratios related to the overall Quebec rate, among persons zero to four years of age and five to 44 years of age were determined for 15 regions and 163 areas served by Centres Locaux de Services Communautaires (CLSC). The areas with rates 50% to 300% higher (P<0.01) than the provincial rate were defined as high-morbidity areas. Maps of all CLSC areas were generated for the above parameters.RESULTS:There were 102,551 ED visits recorded for asthma, of which more than 40% were revisits. Twenty-one CLSCs and 32 CLSCs were high-morbidity areas for the zero to four years age group and five to 44 years age group, respectively. For the most part, the high-morbidity areas were located in the south-central region of Quebec. Only 47% of asthmatic patients seen in ED had also seen a physician in ambulatory care.CONCLUSION:The data suggest that a significant portion of the population seeking care at the ED is undiagnosed and undertreated. A map of high-morbidity areas that could help target interventions to improve asthma care and outcomes is proposed.

CJEM ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 420-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria B. Ospina ◽  
Brian H. Rowe ◽  
Donald Voaklander ◽  
Ambikaipakan Senthilselvan ◽  
Michael K. Stickland ◽  
...  

AbstractObjectivesThis retrospective cohort study compared rates of emergency department (ED) visits after a diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the three Aboriginal groups (Registered First Nations, Métis and Inuit) relative to a non-Aboriginal cohort.MethodsWe linked eight years of administrative health data from Alberta and calculated age- and sex-standardized ED visit rates in cohorts of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal individuals diagnosed with COPD. Rate ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated in a Poisson regression model that adjusted for important sociodemographic factors and comorbidities. Differences in ED length of stay (LOS) and disposition status were also evaluated.ResultsA total of 2,274 Aboriginal people and 1,611 non-Aboriginals were newly diagnosed with COPD during the study period. After adjusting for important sociodemographic and clinical factors, the rate of all-cause ED visits in all Aboriginal people (RR=1.72, 95% CI: 1.67, 1.77), particularly among Registered First Nations people (RR=2.02; 95% CI: 1.97, 2.08) and Inuit (RR=1.28; 95% CI: 1.22, 1.35), were significantly higher than that in non-Aboriginals, while ED visit rates were significantly lower in the Métis (RR=0.94; 95% CI: 0.90, 0.98). The ED LOS in all Aboriginal groups were significantly lower than that of the non-Aboriginal group.ConclusionsAboriginal people with COPD use almost twice the amount of ED services compared to their non-Aboriginal counterparts. There are also important variations in patterns of ED services use among different Aboriginal groups with COPD in Alberta.


2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 1701567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Rose ◽  
Laura Istanboulian ◽  
Lise Carriere ◽  
Anna Thomas ◽  
Han-Byul Lee ◽  
...  

We sought to evaluate the effectiveness of a multi-component, case manager-led exacerbation prevention/management model for reducing emergency department visits. Secondary outcomes included hospitalisation, mortality, health-related quality of life, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) severity, COPD self-efficacy, anxiety and depression.Two-centre randomised controlled trial recruiting patients with ≥2 prognostically important COPD-associated comorbidities. We compared our multi-component intervention including individualised care/action plans and telephone consults (12-weekly then 9-monthly) with usual care (both groups). We used zero-inflated Poisson models to examine emergency department visits and hospitalisation; Cox proportional hazard model for mortality.We randomised 470 participants (236 intervention, 234 control). There were no differences in number of emergency department visits or hospital admissions between groups. We detected difference in emergency department visit risk, for those that visited the emergency department, favouring the intervention (RR 0.74, 95% CI 0.63–0.86). Similarly, risk of hospital admission was lower in the intervention group for those requiring hospital admission (RR 0.69, 95% CI 0.54–0.88). Fewer intervention patients died (21 versus 36) (HR 0.56, 95% CI 0.32–0.95). No differences were detected in other secondary outcomes.Our multi-component, case manager-led exacerbation prevention/management model resulted in no difference in emergency department visits, hospital admissions and other secondary outcomes. Estimated risk of death (intervention) was nearly half that of the control.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document