The rate of hospital visits for children with asthma in California is increasing.
According to a recently released study, the Sunshine State has had anything but sunny health outcomes in store for its young residents with asthma over the past years. Despite heavy government spending on programs designed to help children with asthma and their parents deal with the disease, the rate of severe asthma attacks for children in the state seems to be rising.
According to a Kaiser Health News analysis of the latest available data on emergency room visits by county, the rate of ER visits for asthma in children has spiked by a significant amount over the period between 2005 and 2012. Among children under 5, the rate has increased by 6 percent, and among children between 5 and 17, by 18 percent. These increases were particularly pronounced in the Central Valley, where the rate of ER visits for children over 5 in 2012 was more than double what it was in 2005.
This jump in ER visit rates has some public health experts discouraged, as the state and federal governments spend $1.54 million per year on asthma prevention and education programs in California. According to employees in this field, the most common causes of ER visits for children with asthma include improperly administered medications and high levels of air pollution.
However, there is some good news: The rising rate of ER visits doesn't reflect an increase in the number of California children diagnosed with asthma, which has held steady at 15 percent since 2001. Also, the rate of overnight or longer hospital stays for asthma symptoms has decreased across both the state and the nation.
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