Evaluation of Systemic Steroid Dosing, Asthma-Related Readmissions, and Body Mass Index in Pediatric Patients with Asthma

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether overweight/obese children with asthma have different systemic steroid dosing practices and asthma related readmission rates compared to normal/underweight children with asthma. Methods: Medical charts of patients admitted between October 2013 and October 2014 for an acute asthma exacerbation were reviewed retrospectively. The primary objective was to compare the average weight based systemic steroid dose between overweight/obese (Group 1) and normal/underweight (Group 2) with asthma. The secondary objective was to compare asthma-related readmissions between both groups. Data collected included demographic data; 30 day, 90 day and 6-month asthma-related readmissions; asthma medications prior-to-admission, during hospitalization and upon discharge. Results: One hundred fifty nine admissions (147 patients with recorded BMI) were evaluated. There was no significant difference in the proportion of obese, overweight, healthy and underweight patients who had 6-month asthma readmissions (p > 0.05). The mean systemic steroid, including prednisone and methylprednisolone, weight based dosing was similar between Group 1 and Group 2 (p > 0.05). Likewise, the proportion of patients with 6-month readmissions was similar in both groups (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Acute asthma exacerbation pediatric patients whom are overweight/obese were not being dosed differently to normal/underweight patients and were not at risk for increased asthma-related readmission in the following 6 months.