Vermont Tracking provides annual data about hospitalizations for asthma starting in 2000, and emergency department visits for asthma starting in 2003.
Hospitalizations are inpatient admissions of Vermont residents to hospitals in Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, and Massachusetts. Emergency department visits are emergency room visits to Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, and Massachusetts hospitals by Vermont residents.
For both hospitalizations and emergency department visits, asthma data are available by number of cases, crude rate per 10,000 people, age-adjusted rate per 10,000 people, and gender.
Vermont residents of all ages are included in the asthma data. The crude rate data for inpatient hospitalizations also offer age-categories.
The total number of inpatient admissions for certain of these age categories is small. When numbers of cases are fewer than six, Vermont Tracking does not show exact counts. With fewer than six cases, it is almost impossible to tell random changes from true changes in the data. Reporting small numbers is also avoided to maintain confidentiality of individuals.