OBJECTIVES : Asthma is a chronic disease that affects the airways in the lungs which makes breathing difficult. Asthma attacks can range from mild intermittent to severe. Severe asthma attacks can be life-threatening, significantly impairing quality of life. Several comorbidities are associated with asthma, making it harder to control, and may influence disease management. The main objectives of the present study were to evaluate asthma patients by their demographics, asthma severity, and their comorbid conditions.

METHODS : This retrospective study examined data from a U.S. electronic health record database (Cerner Health Facts®). All inpatient visits (age ≥ 18 years) between 2014 and 2017 with a principal ICD9/10 diagnosis of asthma were evaluated in this study. Comorbid conditions were characterized by corresponding ICD9/10 codes.

RESULTS : A total of 293,744 patients with asthma were identified in the database corresponding to 434,096 inpatient visits. It was observed that 70.9% of asthma patient visits were female. Half of the visits were in the ‘36-65 years’ age group (50.4%), 29.7% in the ‘>65 years’ age group, and 19.9% in the ‘18-35 years’ age group. Majority of patient visits were Caucasian (63.8%), followed by African-American (25.8%). Number of patient visits with a diagnosis of mild intermittent asthma was higher as compared to those with mild persistent asthma (43.6% vs. 13.3%). Moderate persistent asthma was present in 25.2% of patient visits, while 17.9% of visits had severe persistent asthma. The most prevalent comorbid conditions among asthma patient visits were obesity (49%), followed by depression (20.2%), respiratory failure (12.2%), and pneumonia (10.8%).

CONCLUSIONS : The large database analysis provides insights into real-world evidence on the demographics, severity levels, and comorbid conditions in asthma patients. Identification of these patient characteristics can potentially help guide decision-making for new asthma treatment initiatives.