There has been a number of reports claiming that asthma admissions (and readmissions) have been steadily increasing in recent years. In some of these researches the possible risk factors for asthma admissions have been discussed but in none of them have first and later asthma admissions been considered separately. The aim of this study is to discover the pattern and some of the risk factors for asthma admissions to Scotland's hospitals in years 1981 to 1992. Four aspects differentiate this study from others. First, the linked records of admissions of asthmatic patients are used. Second, the first and later admissions of patients are analysed separately. Third, the data covers all Scotland (which could be assumed to be a closed medical area) for a relatively long period of time (12 years). Fourth, more complex models (i.e. Cox Proportional Hazards model) with the idea of analysing times free of admission are used to model the pattern or identifying the risk factors. Note it is necessary to use the linked records of admissions in a closed medical area to be able to distinguish between first and later admissions of asthmatic patients. The data was provided by the Scottish Record Linkage Study, Scottish Health service, Statistics Division, Edinburgh. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)
