Asthma-related physician office visits 2010–2016

The rate* of physician office visits with a first-listed diagnosis of asthma among children (<18 years of age) declined from 2010 to 2016.

Physician office visits are an important part of asthma care.  The National Asthma Education and Prevention Program’s expert panel recommends visits to a clinician about every six months for patients whose asthma is under control and more often for patients whose asthma is uncontrolled or has severe persistent asthma.

Rate* of physician office visits with first-listed diagnosis of asthma
by year and age§, NAMCS
Line graph showing rate of physician office visits with first-listed diagnosis of asthma by year and age from 2010–2016

The rate* of physician office visits with a first-listed diagnosis of asthma among children declined from 776.8 per 10,000 in 2010 to 332.9 visits per 10,000 in 2016 (p<0.05). Neither the overall rate* nor adult rate* provided a statistically significant decline during this period (p>0.05). Although physician office visits varied by demographic characteristics (Table), the only statistically significant difference between rates* were among children by sex (male, 529.2; female 328.6 (p<0.05)).

CDC’s National Asthma Control Program (NACP) was created in 1999 to help the millions of people with asthma in the United States gain control over their disease. The NACP conducts national asthma surveillance and funds states to help them improve their asthma surveillance and to focus efforts and resources where they are needed.

Table. Physician office visits with asthma as the first-listed diagnosis by patient characteristics, NAMCS, 2014-2016**.
Overall Child Adult
Characteristic Weighted No. of Visits Standard Error Weighted No. of Visits Rate* (SE) Weighted No. of Visits Standard Error Weighted No. of Visits Rate* (SE) Weighted No. of Visits Standard Error Weighted No. of Visits Rate* (SE)
Total 10,148,949 1,075,782 321.3 (34.0) 3,166,810 405,477 431.0 (55.2) 6,982,139 939,214 287.9 (38.6)
Sex
Female 5,443,787 680,865 337.0 (42.0) 1,182,375 204,132 328.6 (56.6) 4,261,412 629,780 339.3 (49.9)
Male 4,705,162 581,380 304.9 (37.6) 1,984,435 314,763 529.2 (83.2) 2,720,727 462,937 232.6 (39.4)
Age (year)
0–4 821,941 160,260 413.2 (80.5)
5–17 2,344,870 331,939 437.6 (61.9)
18–34 1,194,428 215,188 163.1 (29.4)
35–64 4,366,150 691,797 355.3 (56.2)
65 and over 1,343,897 240,321 291.1 (51.5)
Race/Ethnicity
White, NH 5,954,431 767,828 305.4 (39.4) 1,583,606 277,710 417.4 (73.0) 4,370,825 668,162 278.2 (42.4)
Black, NH 1,861,788 330,077 482.6 (85.4) 797,675 225,201 788.9 (222.0) 1,064,113 246,744 373.9 (86.5)
Other, NH
Hispanic or Latino 1,884,761 330,420 337.4 (58.8) 692,752 144,566 383.0 (79.1) 1,192,010 298,464 315.0 (78.3)

Abbreviations: NAMCS, National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, No., Number; SE, standard error; NH, non-Hispanic.

*Crude rate per 10,000 and SE, standard error.

Estimate is suppressed because relative SE of the estimate is >30%.

https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/files/docs/guidelines/asthma_qrg.pdf [PDF – 858 KB]

§Child, persons aged 17 years and younger; Adult, persons 18 years and older

**Most current estimates available, combined years to accommodate for single year sample size limitation

Source: National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2010-2016
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ahcd/namcs_summary/2015_namcs_web_tables.pdf [PDF – 785 KB]

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