This dataset reports the crude rate of emergency hospital admissions for asthma among children and young people aged under 19. It provides a measure of the burden of acute asthma episodes requiring urgent medical care and serves as an important indicator of respiratory health and healthcare access for this age group.
Rationale
Reducing hospital admissions caused by asthma in children and young people is a key public health objective. High admission rates may reflect poor asthma control, environmental triggers, or gaps in primary care and early intervention. Monitoring this indicator supports efforts to improve asthma management and reduce preventable hospitalisations.
Numerator
The numerator is the number of emergency hospital admissions for individuals aged under 19 with a primary diagnosis of asthma, identified using ICD-10 codes J45 (Asthma) and J46 (Status asthmaticus). Data are sourced from the Secondary Uses Service (SUS).
Denominator
The denominator is the total population of children and young people aged under 19, based on 2021 Census data.
Caveats
The data reflect episodes of admission rather than individual patients, meaning multiple admissions by the same person are counted separately. Hospital admission rates may also be influenced by local variations in referral and admission practices, as well as differences in asthma prevalence. NHS England has identified a data quality issue, though further detail is not specified in this summary.
External References
Fingertips Public Health Profiles – Asthma Admissions (Under 19)
Localities Explained
This dataset contains data based on either the resident locality or registered locality of the patient, a distinction is made between resident locality and registered locality populations:
- Resident Locality refers to individuals who live within the defined geographic boundaries of the locality. These boundaries are aligned with official administrative areas such as wards and Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs).
- Registered Locality refers to individuals who are registered with GP practices that are assigned to a locality based on the Primary Care Network (PCN) they belong to. These assignments are approximate—PCNs are mapped to a locality based on the location of most of their GP surgeries. As a result, locality-registered patients may live outside the locality, sometimes even in different towns or cities.
This distinction is important because some health indicators are only available at GP practice level, without information on where patients actually reside. In such cases, data is attributed to the locality based on GP registration, not residential address.
Click here to explore more from the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Partnerships Outcome Framework.