TY - JOUR T1 - Health service utilisation associated with chronic breathlessness: random population sample JF - ERJ Open Research JO - erjor DO - 10.1183/23120541.00415-2021 SP - 00415-2021 AU - David C. Currow AU - Sungwon Chang AU - Magnus Ekström AU - Ann Hutchinson AU - Tim Luckett AU - Slavica Kochovska AU - Phillipa Hay AU - Stephen Touyz AU - Eleonora Dal Grande AU - Miriam J. Johnson Y1 - 2021/01/01 UR - http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/early/2021/08/12/23120541.00415-2021.abstract N2 - Most health service utilisation studies are of people with specific diagnoses or demographic characteristics, and rarely of specific chronic symptoms. Does population-level health service utilisation increase in people with chronic breathlessness?Methods Cross-sectional analysis of the South Australian Health Omnibus Survey (HOS) 2017, a multi-stage, clustered area systematic sampling survey of adults where questions are administered face-to-face in respondents’ homes. Self-report of health service utilisation in the previous 3 months (medical consultations, ED, hospital admission), chronic breathlessness (severity, duration; modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) breathlessness scale) and demographic data were used to predict self-reported health service utilisation.Results A total of 2898 people were included (49.0% men; median age 48.0 years (IQR 32.0, 63.0); 64.1% educated beyond school; 55.4% in work; 73.5% had outpatient contact; 6.3% had a hospital admission in the previous three months). Chronic breathlessness (mMRC ≥1) was reported by 8.8% of respondents. In bivariable analyses, people with greater contact with health services were older, and a higher proportion were overweight/obese and had more severe chronic breathlessness. In multivariable analyses, chronic breathlessness and older age were positively associated with outpatient care and inpatient care, and people with chronic breathlessness were hospitalised for longer, incidence rate ratio 2.5 (95%CI: 1.4, 4.5).Answer There is a significant association between worse chronic breathlessness and increased health service utilisation. There is a need for greater understanding of factors that initiate contact with health services.FootnotesThis manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the ERJ Open Research. It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJOR online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article.Conflict of interest: David C. Currow is an unpaid member of an advisory board for Helsinn Pharmaceuticals and Specialist Therapeutics, and has consulted to, and received intellectual property payments from Mayne Pharma.Conflict of interest: Sungwon Chang has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Magnus Ekström has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Ann Hutchinson has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Tim Luckett has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Slavica Kochovska has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Phillipa Hay has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Stephen Touyz has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Eleonora Dal Grande has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Miriam J. Johnson has consulted to Mayne Pharma. ER -