Regular follow-up visits reduce the risk for asthma exacerbation requiring admission in Korean adults with asthma

BACKGROUND: Asthma requires regular follow-up visits and sustained medication use. Although several studies have reported the importance of adherence to medication and compliance with the treatment, none to date have reported the importance of regular follow-up visits. We investigated the effects of regular clinical visits on asthma exacerbation. METHODS: We used claims data in the national medical insurance review system provided by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service of Korea. We included subjects aged ≥ 15 years with a diagnosis of asthma, and who were prescribed asthma-related medication, from July 2013 to June 2014. Regular visitors (frequent visitors) were defined as subjects who visited the hospital for follow-up of asthma three or more times per year. RESULTS: Among 729,343 subjects, 496,560 (68.1%) were classified as regular visitors. Old age, male sex, lack of medical aid insurance, attendance of a tertiary hospital, a high Charlson comorbidity index, and a history of admission for exacerbated asthma in the previous year were significant determining factors for regular visitor status. When we adjusted for all these factors, frequent visitors showed a lower risk of asthma exacerbation requiring general ward admission (odds ratio [OR] 0.48; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.47–0.50; P < 0.001), emergency room admission (OR 0.83; 95% CI 0.79–0.86; P < 0.001), and intensive care unit admission (OR 0.49; 95% CI 0.44–0.54; P < 0.001) than infrequent visitors. CONCLUSIONS: Regular clinical visits are significantly associated with a reduced risk of asthma exacerbation requiring hospital admission in Korean adults with asthma.