Original Articles: Asthma, Rhinitis, Other Respiratory DiseasesTreating allergic rhinitis in patients with comorbid asthma: The risk of asthma-related hospitalizations and emergency department visits☆,☆☆
Section snippets
Data
The analytical file used in this study was constructed from the 1994-1995 MarketScan databases (The MEDSTAT Group, Inc, Ann Arbor, Mich). MarketScan contains data on more than 4 million covered lives annually, representing the health-care experiences of privately insured persons employed in large companies or organizations and the covered dependents of those employees. Contributors to MarketScan come from all areas of the country but are concentrated in the north central and southern areas of
Results
The prevalence of asthma in the 1994 MedRx MarketScan database is approximately 6% and the prevalence of AR is 13%. Approximately 2% of the MarketScan population had both asthma and AR. In our final study population of 4944 patients with both conditions, approximately 73% of the patients were treated for AR. Of those who were treated, 86% (n = 3083) received at least one antihistamine and 76% (n = 2718) received at least one nasal inhaled steroid.
Table I compares the subjects who were treated
Discussion
The main result of this study is that those who were treated for AR have a significantly lower risk of subsequent asthma-related events (ED visits or hospitalizations) than those who were not treated. Qualitatively similar results were found for the risk of hospitalizations for treatment of asthma. The magnitude of the effect of treatment on both events is quite large. The prevented fraction among those exposed to treatment was 47% (1-IDR). These results imply that 47% of subjects who were
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Cited by (0)
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Supported by Integrated Therapeutics Group, Inc., a subsidiary of Schering Plough.
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Reprint requests: Jodi Crystal-Peters, The MEDSTAT Group, 4401 Connecticut Ave, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20008.