View Abstract

A4853 - The Characteristic Differences in Asthma Patients Between ER Visited Patients and ER Non-Visited Patients
Author Block: S. Ohta, T. Homma, M. Jinno, K. Hirai, H. Mikuni, T. Kawahara, R. Manabe, N. Kuwahara, T. Kimura, Y. Miyata, M. Yamaguchi, H. Inoue, F. Yamaguchi, M. Yamamoto, S. Kusumoto, S. Suzuki, A. Tanaka, T. Ohnishi, H. Sagara; Department of Medicine, Division of Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, Showa University, Tokyo, Japan.
Rationale: Recently, usage of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) and other bronchodilators improved asthma control. However, a number of patients still visit emergency room (ER) because of asthma exacerbations. The purpose of this study is to investigate the characteristic differences in patients between ER visited patients and ER non-visited patients. Methods: We retrospectively enrolled 229 asthmatic patients who visited ER at our hospital (Showa University, Department of Medicine, Division of Emergency Room) from April 1st, 2012 to March 31st, 2015, totally for 3 years (ER group). We also enrolled 87 asthmatic patients regularly seeing at our hospital (Showa University, Department of Medicine, Division of Respiratory Medicine and Allergology) who did not visit ER for 3 years in the same period (non-ER group). Firstly, we separated the ER group into 3 subgroups by there healthcare facilities for chronic treatment as follows: patients treated at our hospital (ER Showa group), patients treated at other clinics (ER clinic group), and patients without any chronic treatment (ER no-chronic treatment group). Secondly, we investigated the difference between ER Showa and non-ER groups. The characteristics and the clinical features were compared between each group. Results: By the first separation of ER group into subgroups, the number and percentage of ER Showa group, ER clinic group, and ER no-chronic treatment group were 96 (42%), 49 (18%), and 90 (40%), respectively. The mean age of patients in each subgroup was 58.4 in ER Showa group, 53.2 in ER clinic group and 50.3 in ER no-chronic treatment group. We also found that more patients smoke in ER no-chronic treatment group than other two groups. In addition, higher doses of ICS were administered in ER Showa group compared to ER clinic group. In comparison between ER Showa and non-ER groups, interestingly it was shown that mean age of non-ER group was 64.9, which was significantly higher compared to ER Showa group. Further more, the percentage of female in ER Showa group was 69.8%, which was higher than that in non-ER Showa group (57.5%). Conclusions: There were elder patients who visited ER in ER Showa group than other ER subgroups, and the patients in ER Showa group also received more ICS, suggesting that they have more severe asthma. Although ER Showa group was eldest among the whole ER subgroups, when we compared only in the patients visiting our hospital, non-ER group was found to be even elder than ER Showa group.