Background

Tracking national croup trends can provide important insights for childhood health management. This study aimed to analyze the incidence and drug prescription trends in Korean children over a two-decade period.

Methods

This population-based study encompassed 479,783 children aged < 5 years from 2002–2019, utilizing the National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort. We identified participants with a primary croup diagnosis who were admitted to or visited the emergency room. Age-specific and age-adjusted incidence rates/10,000 person-years were calculated. We assessed using orthogonal polynomial contrasts and stratified by various factors (sex, age, residential area, economic status, comorbidities, and healthcare facility types). We observed changes in the use of five medications: inhaled steroids, systemic steroids, inhaled epinephrine, antibiotics, and short-acting bronchodilators. Generalized binomial logistic regression was used to analyze factors influencing prescription strategies.

Results

In 2002, the croup-related visits were 16.1/10,000 person-years, increasing to 98.3 in 2019 (P for trend < 0.001). This trend persisted, regardless of age, sex, region, and economic status. Children with comorbid atopic dermatitis or asthma maintained consistent croup rates, while those without comorbidities increased. Treatment trends showed decreasing antibiotic (73–47%) and oxygen use (21.3–3.4%), with increasing nebulized epinephrine (9.3–41.5%) and multiple drug prescriptions (67.8–80.3%). Primary care centers exhibited a greater increase in prescription usage and hospitalization duration than did tertiary healthcare institutions.

Conclusions

Over the past two decades, croup incidence has risen, accompanied by increased epinephrine use and decreased antibiotic prescriptions. Longer hospitalization and higher medication use were mainly observed in primary care facilities.