Abstract
Objectives: The objective was to determine the association between asthma severity as measured by the
Pediatric Respiratory Assessment Measure (PRAM) score and the likelihood of admission for pediatric
patients who present to the emergency department (ED) with moderate-to-severe asthma exacerbations
and who receive intensive asthma therapy.
Methods: This was a secondary analysis of a prospective study of triage nurse-initiated steroid therapy
in pediatric asthma. Children aged 2 to 17 years inclusive, presenting with moderate-to-severe acute
asthma exacerbations (defined as PRAM ≥ 4), were included. To be eligible for inclusion in the study,
children must have received “intensive asthma therapy,” defined as nurse-initiated initial bronchodilator
and oral steroid therapy at arrival to triage. PRAM scores were measured hourly as per ED protocol. The
primary outcome was inpatient hospitalization; secondary outcome was ED stay greater than 8 hours.
Logistic regression models were used to predict admission based on PRAM score at triage and then
hourly thereafter. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was calculated for
each hour.
Results: A total of 297 patients were included in the analysis, with an admission rate of 11.4% for
patients receiving intensive therapy. The 3-hour PRAM (AUC = 0.85) significantly improved prediction of
admission compared to PRAM at triage (p = 0.04).
Conclusions: The 3-hour PRAM scores best predicts the need for hospitalization. These results may be
applied in clinical settings to facilitate the decision to admit or initiate more aggressive adjunctive
therapy to decrease the need for hospitalization.