Introduction: Most admissions for asthma are preventable. The objective of this study was to describe readmissions for asthma. Methods: We used the nationwide hospital database to identify readmissions for asthma in patients aged two to 44 years recorded in metropolitan France between 2002 and 2005. We selected patients having a main diagnosis of asthma or asthma-related acute respiratory failure. Readmission rates at seven days and one year were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: The 1-year readmission rate was 15.0% and varied with age (being higher in patients aged two to four years and 35-44 years) and sex (being higher in females aged ten to 34 years). The 1-year readmission rate increased with index stay length. The 7-day readmission rate was 1.1% and was higher in patients with shorter index hospital stays. Conclusion: The rate of readmission of asthma patients is a relevant indicator for monitoring asthma and, more specifically, the clinical management of the disease. In the future, the accumulation of data from consecutive years and the linkage of admission data to asthma medication claims data can be expected to improve our understanding of severe asthma in France. (R.A.)