The Association of Mental Health, Asthma Control and Acute Care Visits Among Rural Adolescents with Poorly Controlled Asthma.

This is a secondary analysis of baseline data, not a test of whether treating anxiety improves asthma outcomes. Mental health, asthma control, and urgent care visits were measured at one time point, so the study cannot show that anxiety caused poor control or urgent visits. All key measures were self-reported, so recall and response bias may affect the associations. The sample was mostly Black and White rural adolescents with poorly controlled asthma, so results may not apply to other racial or ethnic groups or to adolescents with well-controlled asthma. Urgent care was limited to provider office or clinic visits and emergency room visits in the last 3 months, and other factors such as use of inhaled substances or family functioning were not included.

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest.

Do not conclude that treating asthma-related anxiety will reduce urgent asthma care. This is a baseline association, not a treatment trial, and general anxiety and depressive symptoms were not associated with urgent care.