Abstract
Objective:
To examine the links between severity of childhood asthma, socio-economic status and health service utilisation.
Design:
Observational study linking children with asthma and their home postcodes to an index of deprivation.
Setting and subjects:
Twelve Tayside general practices with 1504 registered children aged 1–15.
Results:
There was no association between socio-economic status and treatment step, a proxy for asthma severity. Children with a lower socio-economic status make less use of primary care routine review appointments but more use of outpatients and hospital admissions.
Conclusions:
The link between childhood asthma and socio-economic status appears to be related to patterns of health service utilisation, not disease severity.
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Mowat, D., McCowan, C., Neville, R. et al. Socio-economic status and childhood asthma. Prim Care Respir J 6, 9–11 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/pcrj.1998.5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/pcrj.1998.5