Advance data
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This report describes ambulatory visits for asthma in the United States across three ambulatory care settings. The primary focus is on visits to office-based physicians. ⋯ The patient populations receiving care for asthma vary depending on the ambulatory care setting. Patients relying on hospital outpatient care for chronic asthma conditions may receive differential treatment and have different outcomes compared with patients of office-based physicians. For office-based ambulatory care, visits for asthma have increased substantially since 1980. Medication is the primary method of treatment with an increasing use of anti-inflammatory agents. The preferred bronchodilator has changed from methylxanthines to beta2-adrenergic agonists.
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Comparative Study
Characteristics of elderly home health care users: data from the 1994 National Home and Hospice Care Survey.
This report presents the demographic characteristics, service utilization, and primary admission diagnosis of elderly current home health care patients and discharges. ⋯ The overall results of the survey indicate that the elderly in both the current patient and discharge samples were predominantly women, 75-84 years old, white, non-Hispanic, widowed, and lived in a private residence with their family. For both elderly men and women, the most commonly used home health care service was skilled nursing services and the primary admission diagnosis was heart disease.