Asthma-related physician office visits

The rate of physician office visits with asthma as the first-listed diagnosis was 304.4 per 10,000 persons.

Physician office visits are an important part of asthma care.  The National Asthma Education and Prevention Program’s expert panel recommends visits to a clinician about every six months for patients whose asthma is under control and more often for patients whose asthma is uncontrolled or has severe persistent asthma.

chart of child and adult physician office visits

Rate* of physician office visits with asthma as first-listed diagnosis by sex and age, 2015

In 2015, about 6.2% of all physician office visits were asthma-related and approximately 9.6 million physician office visits with asthma as the first-listed diagnosis (304.4 per 10,000) were reported. The rate of physician office visits was 391 per 10,000 persons among children and 278 per 10,000 persons among adults. Although physician office visits varied by the demographic characteristics, the only statistically significantly difference was between the rates for children and adults and for the 5–17 and 18–34 age groups. No statistically significant differences were noted when US census regions and MSA status were compared.

CDC’s National Asthma Control Program (NACP) was created in 1999 to help the millions of people with asthma in the United States gain control over their disease. The NACP conducts national asthma surveillance and funds states to help them improve their asthma surveillance and to focus efforts and resources where they are needed.

Number and rate* of physician office visits with asthma as first-listed diagnosis by patient characteristics, 2015
Characteristics 2015 Physician Office Visits
Weighted No. of Visits Standard Error of Weighted No. of visits Rate* (SE)
Total 9,628,556 2,135,953 304.4 (67.5)
Male 5,115,288 1,270,412 331.0 (82.2)
Female 4,513,268 1,275,410 279.1  (78.9)
Child 2,876,461 764,302 391.3 (104.0)
Male 1,031,785 311,965 491.7 (166.3)
Female 1,844,676 627,567 286.7 (86.5)
Adult 6,752,095 1,809,157 278.1 (74.5)
Male 3,481,483 1,147,245 297.5 (98.0)
Female 3,270,612 1,046,332 279.4 (89.2)
Race
White 6,504,120 1,695,526 266.3 (69.4)
Black 2,820,745 900,550 683.5 (218.2)
Other
Ethnicity
Hispanic or Latino 1,556,828 537,483 278.3 (96.1)
Not Hispanic or Latino 8,071,727 1,924,367 310.0 (73.9)
Age Group
0–4 years
5–17 years 2,177,473 643,529 406.2 (120.1)
18–34 years 1,098,103 342,711 149.2 (46.8)
35–64 years 4,044,788 1,332,804 322.7 (106.3)
65+ years 1,471,227 501,810 316.6 (108.0)
U.S. Census Region
Northeast 1,740,636 685,276 313.4 (123.4)
Midwest 1,151,243 286,373 172.0 (42.8)
South 3,452,587 1,281,169 290.4 (107.8)
West 3,284,090 1,539,249 438.3 (205.4)
MSA status
MSA 9,116,204 2,119,267 329.7 (76.6)
Non-MSA 512,352 303,917 128.9 (76.5)

Abbreviations: MSA, Metropolitan Statistical Area; SE, standard error.
Note: Child, persons aged 17 years and younger; Adult, persons 18 years and older
* Crude rate per 10,000 and SE, standard error.
† Estimate is suppressed because relative SE of the estimate is >30%.
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/files/docs/guidelines/asthgdln.pdf

Source: National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2015