HEALTH CARE UTILIZATION FOR ASTHMA IN ALBERTA

This study, funded by the Medical and Scientific Section of the Alberta Lung Association, investigated the impact of asthma on the health care system. A significant increase in physician visits was documented over the period 1988/89 to 1992/93. At the same time there was no change in rates of hospitalizations for asthma. During the fiscal year 1992/93, there were over 350,000 physician services for asthma in Alberta (cost of over $8M), and nearly 7,000 hospitalizations, accounting for almost 29,000 patient-days (cost of approximately $16.4M). Rates of physician visits for asthma were generally higher in the large urban centres than in the rural areas, although there were exceptions. Hospitalization rates were highest in the northern parts of the Province. The report of the results emphasized the advantages and limitations of using administrative data for investigating the impact of asthma.