Age trends in direct medical costs of pediatric asthma: A population study.

Overall, children below 3 years of age incurred 3.6 times higher asthma costs and in particular 9.3 times higher asthma-related hospitalization costs than those aged 4 and older. The substantially higher costs in the first 3 years of life reflect the challenge of managing asthma in young children because, despite the early diagnosis, they were frequently hospitalized for asthma and other respiratory conditions. Right panel, direct medical costs related to other respiratory conditions, total and by components gl Figures S3 and S4 respectively present the sex- and SES-stratified age trends of costs related to asthma and other respiratory conditions. Between 4 and 18 years of age, per child-year asthma-related costs steadily declined, but at a slower rate of -14.1%, while hospitalization costs declined by -30.0% every year. [Extracted from the article]