Factors affecting use of resources for asthma patients

Objective: This study aims at exploring the variance in resources used for management and treatment of asthma disease and analyzing the impact of patient and physician characteristics on total test expenditures and the number of drugs prescribed as resource utilization variables. Study setting: The study was undertaken in Hacettepe University Chest Diseases Polyclinic and Allergy Unit. 387 asthma patients visiting the unit between August 2000 and March 2001, were included in the study. Results: The regression analysis showed that patient characteristics did not have a statistically meaningful impact on total test expenditures (p > 0.05). The laboratory test expenditures for patients who referred to academicians (professors and associate professors) were higher compared to patients who referred to their counterparts (p < 0.05). Similarly, the laboratory test expenditures for patients referred to two physicians in the allergy unit were higher and statistically meaningful (p < 0.05) than patients who referred to 8 physicians in the chest diseases polyclinic. When factors affecting the number of drugs prescribed is analyzed it was found that duration of treatment, severity of disease, quality of life, frequency of referral to a physician in the last 6 months were meaningful (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The variances in total test expenditures for different academic careers and specialties indicate the need to standardize the treatment process for asthma and to reconsider medical education.