• Stephen J Teach, Danica B Liberman, Deborah Q Shelef, and Robert McCarter.
• Division of Emergency and Transport Medicine, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90027, USA. dliberman@chla.usc.edu
• Pediatr Emerg Care. 2012 Oct 1;28(10):956-61.

ObjectivesWe sought to determine diagnosis-specific rates of follow-up with primary care providers (PCPs) after emergency department (ED) visits for respiratory tract illnesses. We hypothesized that follow-up rates would be higher among patients with acute infectious illnesses than among those with asthma.MethodsThis was a retrospective cohort study of a random sample of patients aged 0 to 12 years discharged over a 12-month period from an urban, tertiary care pediatric ED with 4 different respiratory tract illnesses (asthma, bronchiolitis, croup, and pneumonia). Primary care provider follow-up was examined for associations with sociodemographic and clinical factors and with subsequent ED visits.ResultsRates of follow-up in the overall cohort were low: 23.6% (95% confidence interval, 19.7-27.4) by 7 days and 40.5% (95% confidence interval, 36.0-44.9) by 30 days. Compared with patients with asthma, the relative risks (RRs) of follow-up within 7 and 30 days were significantly higher among patients with bronchiolitis and pneumonia, but not with croup. For the cohort as a whole, the RR of follow-up within 7 and 30 days significantly decreased for each 1-year increase in age, and the RR of follow-up within 7 days significantly increased with the provision of explicit ED discharge instructions recommending follow-up. Among patients with asthma, follow-up with PCPs within 30 days was not associated with decreased ED visits for asthma over the following year.ConclusionsRates of PCP follow-up were globally low but significantly higher for patients with acute infectious illnesses, for younger patients, and for those receiving explicit ED discharge instructions.

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