Impact of COVID-19 on Asthma Exacerbations (Asthma Attacks During COVID-19)

Study type

• Study type:
  Non-interventional study
• Scope of the study:
  Disease epidemiology

Non-interventional study

• Non-interventional study design:
  Cohort

Study drug and medical condition

• Medical condition to be studied:
  Asthma

Population studied

• Age groups:
  • Paediatric Population (< 18 years)

    • Infants and toddlers (28 days – 23 months)
    • Children (2 to < 12 years)
    • Adolescents (12 to < 18 years)
  • Adult and elderly population (≥18 years)

    • Adults (18 to < 65 years)

      • Adults (18 to < 46 years)
      • Adults (46 to < 65 years)
    • Elderly (≥ 65 years)

      • Adults (65 to < 75 years)
      • Adults (75 to < 85 years)
      • Adults (85 years and over)
• Estimated number of subjects:
  500000

Study design details

• Main study objective:
  Assess how the rate of asthma attacks have varied during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Outcomes:
  Asthma Exacerbation
• Data analysis plan:
  This will be interrupted time series analysis. We will estimate the rate of exacerbations (total number of exacerbations per patient, per month) and then perform a segmented regression analysis to determine intercepts and slopes in each period segment (pre-lockdown, during lockdown, and post-lockdown easing phase). We will use autocorrelation and partial autocorrelation plots to determine the presence of “autoregression” and “moving average” type relationships in the data. We will then fit a generalized least squares-based model that incorporates both “autoregression” and “moving average” type relationships in the data. The fitted model will then be used to derive the predicted and counterfactual values which will then be used to compute the absolute and relative changes in asthma exacerbation rates as a result of lockdown measures.