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(Chest. 1996;110:1458-1462.)
© 1996 American College of Chest Physicians

Periodicity of Asthma, Emphysema, and Chronic Bronchitis in a Northwest Health Maintenance Organization

Molly L. Osborne MD, PhD, FCCP1; William M. Vollmer PhD1; and A. Sonia Buist MD, FCCP1

1 From the Departments of Medicine and Physiology, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, and Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Portland, Ore.

Study objective: Since seasonal patterns in morbidity may identify triggers provoking hospital-based care for airflow obstruction, this study examined seasonal variation in patterns of hospitalizations for asthma, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema.

Design and setting: The data for this analysis were derived from the abstracted medical records of a large health maintenance organization, Kaiser Permanente, Northwest region, over the period 1979 to 1987.

Patients: In all, 2,060 primary hospital discharges for asthma and 1,121 primary hospital discharges for the combination chronic bronchitis/emphysema were observed.

Results: The monthly patterns varied for asthma and chronic bronchitis/emphysema, and also varied by age and sex. For young children 0 to 14 years, asthma hospitalizations peaked primarily in the fall. In contrast, for young children 0 to 14 years, hospitalizations for chronic bronchitis/emyphysema peaked in the fall/winter months. Seasonal variation decreased as age increased for chronic bronchitis/emphysema, such that for the 65+ year group, there was no seasonal variation.

Conclusion: A better understanding of the causes of the age-specific seasonal patterns in these obstructive respiratory diseases may help to reduce the morbidity that is associated with them.

Key Words: asthma • chronic bronchitis • emphysema • epidemiology • health maintenance organization • hospitalization • seasonal patterns

Submitted on October 25, 1995
Accepted on July 10, 1996




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