Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Environmental Health, Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice, Asthma and Air Quality Branch, 4770 Buford Hwy, S106-6, Atlanta, GA 30341 (
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Environmental Health, Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice, Asthma and Air Quality Branch, Atlanta, Georgia.
Prev Chronic Dis. 2024 Jul 25;21:E54. doi: 10.5888/pcd21.230449.
Asthma is a chronic condition with a high prevalence and cost of care among children and adolescents. While previous research described the association of sociodemographic factors with childhood asthma prevalence, there is limited knowledge of these factors' association with medical expenditures. In this study, we examined disparities in treated asthma prevalence and medical expenditures among US children and adolescents.
Using nationally representative data from the 2016-2021 Medical Expenditures Panel Survey, we conducted a cross-sectional study of 2,365 children and adolescents (aged 0-17 y) with treated asthma compared with 40,497 children and adolescents without treated asthma. Treated asthma was defined as whether the child or adolescent had a medical event (emergency department visit, hospital inpatient stay, hospital outpatient visit, office-based medical visit, home health, and/or prescribed medicines) due to asthma. We controlled for sociodemographic factors of race and ethnicity, age, sex, health insurance coverage, family poverty status, and census region. We used 2-part models and generalized linear models to estimate annual per-person incremental medical expenditures associated with asthma.
Children and adolescents with treated asthma were more likely than those without treated asthma to be non-Hispanic Black or Hispanic, male, and publicly insured. Children and adolescents with treated asthma had $3,362.56 in additional annual medical expenditures, of which $174.06 was out-of-pocket, compared with children and adolescents without treated asthma. The additional expenditures included $955.96 for prescribed medicines, $151.52 for emergency department visits, and $858.17 for office-based medical visits. Non-Hispanic Black children with treated asthma had significantly lower total ($2,721.28) and office-based visit expenditures ($803.19) than non-Hispanic White children with treated asthma.
Disparities among children and adolescents in the US persist in treated asthma prevalence and associated medical expenditures by sociodemographic factors.
哮喘是一种在儿童和青少年中普遍存在且医疗费用高昂的慢性疾病。虽然之前的研究描述了社会人口因素与儿童哮喘患病率之间的关联，但对于这些因素与医疗支出的关联知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们研究了美国儿童和青少年中经治疗的哮喘患病率和医疗支出的差异。
我们使用来自 2016-2021 年医疗支出面板调查的全国代表性数据，对 2365 名患有经治疗的哮喘的儿童和青少年（年龄 0-17 岁）与 40497 名未患有经治疗的哮喘的儿童和青少年进行了横断面研究。经治疗的哮喘定义为儿童或青少年因哮喘而发生医疗事件（急诊就诊、住院、门诊、门诊就诊、家庭保健和/或处方药物）。我们控制了种族和民族、年龄、性别、医疗保险覆盖范围、家庭贫困状况和普查区域等社会人口因素。我们使用两部分模型和广义线性模型来估计与哮喘相关的每人每年递增的医疗支出。
患有经治疗的哮喘的儿童和青少年比未患有经治疗的哮喘的儿童和青少年更有可能是非西班牙裔黑人或西班牙裔、男性和公共保险。与未患有经治疗的哮喘的儿童和青少年相比，患有经治疗的哮喘的儿童和青少年的年度额外医疗支出为 3362.56 美元，其中 174.06 美元为自付费用。额外支出包括 955.96 美元的处方药、151.52 美元的急诊就诊和 858.17 美元的门诊就诊。与患有经治疗的哮喘的非西班牙裔白人儿童相比，患有经治疗的哮喘的非西班牙裔黑人儿童的总支出（2721.28 美元）和门诊就诊支出（803.19 美元）显著降低。
美国儿童和青少年在经治疗的哮喘患病率和与社会人口因素相关的医疗支出方面存在差异。
