Out-of-hospital deaths due to asthma in North Carolina, 1980-1988.

Abstract

Because deaths that occur outside hospitals have not been well-described, we studied out-of-hospital deaths from asthma in North Carolina from 1980 through 1988. We investigated out-of-hospital deaths from asthma using information from the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. We excluded deaths for which a hospital was listed as the place where the death occurred. For the nine years studied, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner recorded 89 of 158 investigated deaths from asthma as having occurred out of hospital. Of the 89 deaths, 73% occurred in the decedent's home. The rates of out-of-hospital deaths from asthma increased as the age of the decedents increased, were higher in rural countries than they were in urban counties, and were over three times higher for blacks and American Indians than they were for whites. Racial minorities may warrant special attention in any attempt to prevent out-of-hospital deaths due to asthma.