Relationship between the characteristics of hospitalised acute asthma patients and the severity of their asthma. A case-control study
Relationship between the characteristics of hospitalised acute asthma patients and the severity of their asthma. A case-control study
Background: The EAGLE Project database was analysed to assess the characteristics of patients with severe asthma (SA) who required hospitalisation as a result of an acute episode during the period 1994–2004, and the relationship with asthma severity.
Methods: A total of 2593 clinical records corresponding to an equal number of patients hospitalised for acute asthma (15–69 years), with sufficient information to characterize their asthma severity in agreement with GINA criteria were identified (727 patients with SA compared with 1866 patients with non-severe asthma).
Results: Patients with SA were older, displayed a greater predominance of female asthmatics, lower antecedents of atopy, and a higher frequency of previous hospitalisations compared with non-severe asthmatics (86.1% vs. 50.5%, p≤0.01). Additionally, SA patients showed more severe exacerbations characterized by acidosis, significant spirometric deterioration, greater length of hospital stay (9.4 days vs. 7.0 days), as well as a higher frequency of intubation (16.8% vs. 2.1%), intensive care unit admission (11.3% vs. 4.9%), cardiopulmonary arrest (5.5% vs. 1.3%), and asthma deaths (2.1% vs. 0.4%) (all p≤0.01) compared with non-severe patients.
Conclusions: This study suggests that SA patients have greater morbidity and a disproportionate need for health care as a result of more severe exacerbations. However, non-severe asthmatics can also still present acute severe episodes (although with a lower frequency) with risk of life.