Asthma Hospital Admissions: Age-Adjusted Rates Per 10,000 Population by County, New Mexico 2018-2022, 2018-2022

Why Is This Important?

Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases in New Mexico, with an estimated 175,000 adults and 30,000 children currently having the disease. People with asthma are more likely to miss school or work, report feelings of depression, and experience an overall reduced quality of life. Asthma is costly, with expenses from routine checkups, emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and medications putting a significant burden on families, the health care sector, and the economy. Though it cannot be cured, asthma can be controlled through quality health care, appropriate medications, and good self-management skills. When asthma is controlled, people with the disease have few, if any, symptoms, and can live normal and productive lives. Admission date is used in order to bring healthcare events and outcome closer to the event(s) related to trigger or cause of condition.

Definition

An asthma hospitalization is an admission to the hospital by a New Mexico resident that occurs in state with asthma listed as the primary (first-listed) diagnosis. Asthma hospitalizations include those with ICD-9 codes 493.0-493.92 and ICD-10-CM J45 after 10/2015.

Data Notes

Data Sources

• New Mexico Population Estimates: University of New Mexico, Geospatial and Population Studies (GPS) Program.
  (http://gps.unm.edu/)
• Hospital Inpatient Discharge Data, New Mexico Department of Health.

How the Measure is Calculated

• Numerator:

  Admission: Number of hospital admissions where asthma is the primary (first-listed) diagnosis. Discharge: Number of hospital discharge where asthma is the primary (first-listed) diagnosis.

• Denominator:

  Estimated total number of New Mexico residents in a specified population over a specified time period.

Data Issues

• New Mexico Population Estimates

  {{class RedText NOTE: On January 16, 2025, the NM-IBIS and NMTracking POPULATION ESTIMATES FOR YEARS **2010 THROUGH 2023** WERE REPLACED. Data from the 2020 decennial census were used to update the estimates. Rates calculated using the NM-IBIS and NMTracking web-based queries are affected. Any rates that use population denominators that were calculated after January 16, 2025 will be different from those calculated prior to that date. We apologize for the inconvenience.}} All population estimates apply to July 1 of the selected year. These estimates are considered the most accurate estimates for the state of New Mexico and should match those found on the University of New Mexico [https://gps.unm.edu/pop/population-estimates.html Geospatial and Population Studies website]. Estimates include decimal fractions. Census tract population estimates were summed to produce County estimates. Population estimate totals may vary slightly due to rounding.

• Hospital Inpatient Discharge Data (HIDD)

  The hospital inpatient discharge data include visits to NON-FEDERAL HOSPITALS only. Visits to Veteran's Administration (VA) facilities and Indian Health Service (IHS) facilities have not been included, unless specifically stated otherwise. Results from this query should not be used to make population inferences for New Mexico's American Indian populations. The data include all hospital visits. Persons with multiple hospital visits will be counted multiple times. By default, these query results include records for in-hospital deaths. Users wishing to query only non-fatal hospitalizations should filter the data to include all discharge statuses OTHER than **EXPIRED**. Transfer visits have not been removed from the dataset. Patients who were transferred from one facility to another will have data records at each facility. For inpatient visits with a diagnosis of "childbirth", data records for mothers have been included, but the data records for newborns have excluded from the HIDD queries. The ICD coding system, maintained by the World Health Organization and the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, is used to classify diagnoses for hospital and emergency department visits. This coding system underwent a major revision from version 9 to version 10 that went into effect October 1, 2015. In most cases, the two versions do not provide comparable results, and the two time periods should not be combined in a single query. The hospital inpatient dataset includes only New Mexico residents hospitalized in New Mexico hospitals and do not include visits for New Mexico residents who visited a hospital in another state. In cases of serious injuries near the state borders, oftentimes patients will be transported to a nearby trauma center in the bordering state.

Health Topic Pages Related to: Asthma Hospital Admissions

• Asthma