Table 1.
Demographic and clinical characteristics
| Responders | Total population | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PICU, N = 50 | GW, N = 62 | PICU, N = 100 | GW, N = 103 | |
| Demographic characteristics at follow‐up | ||||
| Age | 8 (6‐12) | 5 (3‐6)* | 8 (5‐12) | 5 (3‐7)** |
| Male | 31 (62) | 35 (57) | 61 (61) | 63 (61) |
| Caucasian | 29 (58) | 49 (79)* | 56 (56) | 73 (71)* |
| Highest parental education level | ||||
| Low (ISCED 0‐2) | 2 (4) | 0 (0) | 2 (2.6) | 1 (1.2) |
| Middle (ISCED 3‐4) | 18 (39) | 20 (34) | 32 (41.6) | 29 (35.8) |
| High (ISCED 5‐8) | 26 (57) | 39 (66) | 43 (55.8) | 51 (63) |
| Socioeconomic scores postal codea | −0.4 (1.5) | −0.11 (1.3) | −0.36 (1.4) | −0.26 (1.3) |
| One‐caregiver household | 14 (29) | 7 (12)* | 25 (29) | 13 (16)* |
| SAA hospital admission variables | ||||
| Arterial lines | 8 (19) | 0 (0) | 14 (16) | 0 (0) |
| Invasive mechanical ventilation | 5 (10) | 0 (0) | 10 (10) | 0 (0) |
| PICU LOS | 3.7 (1.8) | ⋯ | 3.5 (3) | ⋯ |
| Total hospital LOS | 6 (2) | 3 (1)** | 6 (2) | 3 (1)** |
| Medical status at follow‐up | ||||
| Medication step (GINA) | ||||
| Step 1 | 2 (4) | 3 (5)* | 2 (2) | 7 (7)* |
| Step 2 | 6 (12) | 1 (2) | 11 (11) | 3 (3) |
| Step 3 | 24 (49) | 48 (77) | 51 (52) | 74 (73) |
| Step 4 | 15 (31) | 9 (15) | 31 (31) | 15 (15) |
| Step 5 | 2 (4) | ⋯ | 4 (4) | ⋯ |
| No medication | ⋯ | 1 (2) | ⋯ | 2 (2) |
| Asthma symptom controlb | ||||
| Well‐controlled | 32 (64) | 42 (68) | 62 (64) | 65 (63) |
| Partly controlled | 6 (12) | 13 (21) | 15 (16) | 25 (24) |
| Not controlled | 12 (24) | 7 (11) | 20 (21) | 13 (13) |
| C‐ACT(2‐17 y)c | ||||
| Asthma symptoms well‐controlled | 27 (73) | 27 (77) | 27 (73) | 27 (77) |
| Asthma symptoms not well‐controlled | 10 (27) | 8 (22) | 10 (27) | 8 (22) |
| Readmission | 4 (8) | 10 (16) | 15 (15) | 13 (13) |
| PICU readmission | 2 (4) | 1 (2) | 6 (6) | 1 (1) |
| ED visits | ||||
| None | 37 (74) | 49 (79) | 74 (75) | 87 (85) |
| 1 Visit | 7 (14) | 7 (11) | 13 (13) | 10 (10) |
| >1 Visits | 6 (12) | 6 (10) | 12 (12) | 6 (6) |
Note: Responders = completed the questionnaires during follow‐up. Data presented as number (percentage), only age is presented as median (IQR). *P < .05. ** P < .001.
Abbreviations: C‐ACT, Childhood Asthma Control Test; ED, emergency department; GINA , Global Initiative for Asthma; GW, general ward; IQR, interquartile range; LOS, length of stay; PICU, pediatric intensive care.
Postal code was used to quantify neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES), with a mean of zero. A lower (negative) score is associated with a lower SES.
Asthma symptom control: asthma symptoms during preceding month (nocturnal awakenings, wheezing more than two times per week, bronchodilator use more than two times per week, exercise‐induced symptoms), assessed by a professional. Well‐controlled = no symptoms, partly controlled = one to two symptoms and uncontrolled if three to four of these symptoms.
C‐ACT = a score of less than 20 indicates that asthma was not well‐controlled, reported by the patient and/or parent.