Introduction - Hospitalizations for asthma are largely preventable. The objective of this analysis was to describe readmissions for asthma. Methods - Hospital stays recorded in the PMSI database between 2002 and 2005 in mainland France for patients aged 2–44 years with a primary diagnosis of asthma or acute respiratory failure associated with asthma were analyzed. The 7-day and 1-year readmission rates were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results - The 1-year risk of readmission for asthma was 15.0%. It varied by age (higher among those aged 2–4 and 35–44) and sex (higher among women aged 10–34) and increased with the length of the initial hospitalization. The 7-day readmission risk was 1.1% and was higher for shorter hospitalizations. Conclusion - Readmissions for asthma are a relevant indicator for monitoring asthma, particularly its management. In the future, the availability of data spanning an increasing number of consecutive years and linkage with comprehensive health insurance reimbursement data should provide insights into severe asthma in France.