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The following is a summary of “Impact of Rural School-Based Health Centers on Asthma Management,” published in the November 2024 issue of Pediatrics by Brunner et al.     

Rural students with asthma face barriers to receiving preventive care, impacting their health outcomes.  

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to evaluate the care of students with asthma who have access to school-based health centers (SBHCs).  

They analyzed encounters for patients ages 4 through 19 living in 4 counties served by a healthcare system with SBHCs (n=15) and without (n=23) between 2016 and 2017, identifying patients with asthma using International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes from the 2 years prior.  

The results showed that students in districts with SBHCs had greater odds of 2 or more asthma-related office visits (OR=2.23; 95% CI: 1.66-2.99) and 1 or more well-child visits (OR=1.24; 95% CI: 1.03-1.50) while exhibiting lower odds of respiratory-related convenient care or emergency department (ED) visits (OR=0.45; 95% CI: 0.30-0.67). The differences were most significant for students who utilized the SBHC in the district compared to those in districts without SBHC access.  

They concluded that access to SBHCs enables rural students with asthma to receive more preventive care per national guidelines while reducing the need for ED visits.  

Source: jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(24)00488-8/abstract