Introduction: Clinical guidelines recommend that patients with asthma-related hospital admissions are reviewed in primary care following hospital discharge. We evaluated post-hospitalisation asthma management in primary care and its associations with patient characteristics.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was done using English primary care data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink Aurum database and linked Hospital Episode Statistics Admitted Patient Care data. Patients with asthma aged ?5 years who had at least one asthma-related hospitalisation from 1st January 2017 to 31st December 2019 were included. The primary outcome was a composite of any of the following within 28 days from hospital discharge: asthma medicine prescriptions, smoking cessation counselling, asthma management plan, asthma review, or demonstration of inhaler technique. The association between patient characteristics and the delivery of clinical care was assessed using logistic regression.

Results: The study included 17,457 patients. 60% had received asthma care within 28 days of hospital discharge. 57% received an asthma medication, 1.2% smoking cessation counselling, 8% an asthma management plan, 13% had an asthma review, and 8% had a demonstration of inhaler technique. This care was less likely to be received by patients from black ethnic minority groups (OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.60-089). By contrast, previous prescriptions of short-acting bronchodilators were associated with an increased likelihood of the primary outcome.  

Conclusion: A significant proportion of patients do not receive timely follow-up in primary care following asthma-related hospital admissions, particularly among patients from black ethnic groups.