Number of Visits to a Health Care Provider(s) among Children

Children with asthma were more likely than children without asthma to visit a health care provider(s) 3 or more times during the past 12 months.

Monitoring use of health care services by children with asthma helps us estimate the burden of disease and assess the impact of both asthma prevention programs and changes in health care quality.*

Health care provider visits: Most children either with asthma (89.8%) or without asthma (83.9%) have visited a health care provider(s). More children with asthma (32.0%) had three or more visits to a provider(s) than did children without asthma (24.0%).  

Age: The percentage of children either with or without asthma who visited a health care provider three or more times decreased with age. Among children aged 0 through 4, there were no differences between children with or without asthma in provider visits. Among children aged 5 through 17, more children with asthma had three or more visits to a health care provider(s), whereas more children without asthma had zero to two visits.

Sex: Children with and without asthma visited a health care provider(s) one or two times at the same rate. Not visiting a health care provider(s) at all was more likely among boys (16.9%) and girls (15.3%) without asthma than among boys and girls with asthma (11.2% and 8.7%, respectively). Visiting a health care provider(s) three or more times was more likely among boys (32.3%) and girls (31.6%) with asthma than among boys and girls without asthma (23.7 and 24.2%, respectively).

Race/Ethnicity: Regardless of both asthma status and race or ethnicity, visiting a health care provider(s) one or two times was more common than either not visiting at all or having three or more visits. Visiting a health care provider(s) three or more times was more common among Hispanic children (with asthma, 40.6%; without asthma, 27.2%) and non-Hispanic black children (with asthma, 36.1%; without asthma, 25.8%) than among non-Hispanic white children (with asthma, 27.2%;without asthma, 22.0%) .

Poverty: Among children both with and without asthma, the percentage of those visiting a health care provider(s) three or more times decreased as income increased. The percentage of children with one or two visits increased as income increased. Children with asthma who are poor (40.8%) or near poor (35.7%) were more likely than children without asthma who are poor (29.5%) and near poor (24.5%) to have visited a health care provider three or more times.  

Abbreviations: NH, non- Hispanic; CI, confidence interval.
* Akinbami LJ, Schoendorf KC. Trends in childhood asthma: prevalence, health care utilization, and mortality. Pediatrics. 2002 Aug;110(2 Pt 1):315-22.
Poor" persons are below the poverty threshold. "Near poor" persons have incomes of 100% to less than 200% of the poverty threshold. "Not poor" have incomes that are 200% or above. 

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

Source: National Survey for Children’s Health, 2011-2012: question: “During the past 12 months/Since [his/her] birth, how many times did the selected child see a doctor, nurse, or other health care provider for preventive medical care such as a physical exam or well-child checkup?”