Trends in Hospitalization Rates of Childhood Asthma in Poland
Wieslaw Jędrychowski1, Bogdan Wojtyniak2, Krystyna Szafraniec1, and Pawel Gorynski2
1 Chair of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków, Poland
2 Department of Medical Statistics, State Institute of Hygiene, Warsaw, Poland
Corresponding author: Wieslaw Jędrychowski, MD, PhD
Chair of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine
Jagiellonian University Medical College
7, Kopernika Street
31-034 Kraków, Poland
Telephone: +48-12-423 10 03
Fax number: +48-12-4228795
E-mail: myjedryc@cyf-kr.edu.pl
CEJOEM 2004, Vol.10. No.4.: 275–282
Key words:
Asthma, hospital morbidity, trends, children
Abstract:
Hospitalization rates from asthma in children and adolescents below 19 years of age showed a consistent
rising trend over the last two decades and in the period 1984–1996 the rates doubled for both genders.
Among boys the rates were 1.6 times higher than in girls. On average the rates increased annually by 12.2%
for boys and 10.6% for girls. The fastest increase has been noted in the youngest children aged less than
4 years (20.3% in boys and 18.9% in girls). In the older age groups (5–9 and 10–14 years) the annual
increase was in the range of 10.5–14.1%. The slowest increase was observed in children of the oldest age
group (3.7%) with no difference in hospitalization rates between the genders. We found the highest rates
in the southeastern and northern parts of Poland and this was not compatible with the hygienic hypothesis
of asthma and allergic diseases.
Received: 19 March 2004
Accepted: 28 October 2004
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