The Journal of asthma : official journal of the Association for the Care of Asthma
-
The effect of common indoor combustion heating sources on childhood asthma is not well described. The objective was to determine if the use of woodstoves in the home or other factors such as environmental tobacco smoke exposure were associated with the frequency of asthma-related symptoms among children in a rural community. Having a person in the household who smoked was associated with a more than doubling in risk for wheezing and other asthma-related symptoms. The use of woodstoves or other types of heating in the homes of children was not associated with reported wheezing during the winter.
-
Purpose. To evaluate the impact of transition to managed care from fee for service on asthma service utilization among Maryland Medicaid insured children. Methods. ⋯ Outpatient asthma visits increased from 4.2% to 5.9% of all outpatient claims as both asthma-related hospitalizations and emergency department visits decreased. Conclusions. Restructuring of Maryland Medicaid for children from fee for service to managed care was associated with improvement in asthma-related healthcare utilization claims.
-
We evaluated residents regarding maintenance treatment of asthma and the technique for using metered dose inhalers. Methods. ⋯ Conclusions. The results demonstrate that, when seeing a typical patient with uncontrolled persistent asthma, most residents are able to correctly identify the drugs indicated for treatment but not adequately instruct the MDI technique use.