Abstract
ABSTRACT
We performed a five-year retrospective study on the impact of a monthly inner-city allergy clinic (AC) on emergency room (ER) visits, hospital admissions, and medication use of asthmatic children. Forty-three AC patients (cases) were matched to 32 asthmatic controls who attended a general pediatrie clinic. The matching criteria are age, sex, medication score, and ER visits. For each case and its matched control, variables were compared before and after an exact date that corresponds to the date of the first AC visit of that case. Follow-up at the AC had no impact on the ER visits, as the frequency of visits significantly declined for both the cases (p < 0.01) and the controls (p < 0.01). Medication use significantly improved for the cases (p < 0.01) but not for the controls (p > 0.05). The AC group also had a significant decline in hospital admissions for asthma (p < 0.01); the change for the controls was not significant (p > 0.05).
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