Using data from the national pharmaceutical claims database, these researchers identified 80,514 children aged <15 years dispensed >2 asthma medicines, in this investigation into the recommended treatment and outcomes for asthma in all New Zealand children by age, sex, and ethnic group. A total of 16.0% of children were dispensed asthma medicines, 9.2% were dispensed medicine >2 times, 3.6% were hospitalised at least once for asthma and 98.9% of admissions were acute. Māori (OR 1.46) and Pacific children (OR 2.38) were less likely to have their treatment escalated to a higher step than other children. At all steps of treatment, Māori and Pacific children were more likely to be using oral steroids to control asthma exacerbations and in all age groups, Māori children (5.1%; OR 1.88) and Pacific children (5.6%; OR 2.05) were more likely to be hospitalised for asthma than children of other ethnicities (2.8%).
