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
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.
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]