Regional Variation of Hospitalization Rates for Asthma in Korea: Association with Ambient Carbon Monoxide and Health Care Supply

This study was performed to investigate the relationship between the hospitalization rate for asthma and the ambient carbon monoxide (CO) by examining regional variation of the hospitalization rates for asthma in Korea and its factors. The hospital inpatient claims for asthma were acquired from the National Health Insurance database in 2015. A multivariate linear regression was performed with the hospitalization rate for asthma as a dependent variable. The annual ambient concentration of CO showed a negative association with the hospitalization rates for asthma while that of sulfur dioxide showed a positive association. The number of primary care physicians showed a negative association with the hospitalization rates for asthma while the number of beds in hospitals with less than 300 beds showed a positive association. The negative association of the ambient concentration of CO with the hospitalization rates for asthma showed results upon further investigation.