Health care resource use greater among patients with asthma, comorbidities

PHOENIX — Chronic rhinosinusitis and bronchiectasis as comorbidities in patients with asthma were associated with higher health care use, according to data presented at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Annual Meeting.

“We examined the use of oral corticosteroids, antibiotic courses and emergency room visits or hospitalizations associated with these conditions,” Margaret S. Kim, MD, a clinical fellow in allergy and immunology at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, said in an AAAAI-issued press release. “Asthma patients with both [chronic rhinosinusitis] and bronchiectasis had a higher odds ratio for all of the factors.”

Using electronic medical records between 1988 and 2021, ICD codes and CT scan reports, Kim and colleagues identified 5,038 patients with asthma, including 1,979 (39%) with comorbid chronic rhinosinusitis and 967 (19%) with comorbid non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis.

A total of 496 patients (9.8%) had both comorbidities.

After controlling for age, sex and race, patients with asthma and both chronic rhinosinusitis and bronchiectasis had a higher likelihood for oral corticosteroid use (OR = 2.3; 95% CI, 1.7-2.9), antibiotic use (OR = 3; 95% CI, 2.3-3.9) and ED visit or hospitalizations (OR = 1.6; 95% CI, 1.2-2.1) compared with those with bronchiectasis but without chronic rhinosinusitis.

“The presence of chronic rhinosinusitis in patients with asthma and bronchiectasis identifies a subset of patients with high health care utilization and represents an important comorbidity for which to screen,” Kim and colleagues wrote in the abstract.

Reference:

• Chronic rhinosinusitis is an important comorbidity in patients with asthma and bronchiectasis. https://www.aaaai.org/About/News/News/rhino. Published Feb. 1, 2022. Accessed Feb. 22, 2022.