Introduction. Hospitalizations for asthma are considered largely preventable with appropriate care. The objective of this study was to describe hospitalizations for childhood asthma using data from the national database of the Medical Information Systems Program (PMSI). Methods. Hospital stays occurring between 2002 and 2010 among children (age < 15 years) residing in France (excluding French Guiana) with a primary diagnosis of asthma or severe acute asthma, or acute respiratory failure (ARF) with an associated diagnosis code for asthma or severe acute asthma were selected. Results. In 2010, 35,004 hospital stays for asthma and 1,381 hospital stays for ARI associated with asthma were recorded (hospitalization rate: 30.1 per 10,000 children); the average length of stay was 2 days. The in-hospital mortality rate ranged from 0.01% to 0.03% depending on the year. The age-standardized annual hospitalization rate increased between 2002 and 2010 (+2.5% per year on average in metropolitan France). In 2010, 11.8% of children hospitalized for asthma or for acute respiratory infection (ARI) associated with asthma were readmitted for the same reasons at least once during the same year, and 1.3% within 7 days. The proportion of children under 5 readmitted during the same calendar year increased between 2002 and 2010. Conclusion. The increase in hospitalization and readmission rates indicates suboptimal management of childhood asthma in France. (R.A.)