Study type

Study topic

Disease /health condition

Study type

Non-interventional study

Scope of the study

Disease epidemiology
Healthcare resource utilisation

Data collection methods

Secondary data collection
Non-interventional study

Non-interventional study design

Cohort
Other

Non-interventional study design, other

Historical longitudinal descriptive study
Study drug and medical condition

Medical condition to be studied

Asthma
Type 2 diabetes mellitus
Osteoporosis
Osteoporotic fracture
Hypertension
Glaucoma
Sleep apnoea syndrome
Weight increased
Depression
Anxiety
Pneumonia
Cataract
Chronic kidney disease
Dyslipidaemia
Peptic ulcer

Additional medical condition(s)

Sleep disorders, Cardiovascular disease, Growth suppression and behavioural disorders
Population studied

Short description of the study population

The study population included patients aged 4 years or older received oral corticosteroids (OCS) for the treatment of asthma identified from the optimum patient care research database (OPCRD) and clinical practice research datalink (CPRD).
Inclusion Criteria:
1. OCS Arm - Patients with a prescription of an OCS with a concurrent (within 3 months) asthma event defined as an asthma QOF diagnosis or asthma QOF prescription. This will be the index date.
2. Non-OCS Arm - Patients with no OCS prescription at any time
3. Patients with at least 12 months baseline period (prior to index date)
4. Patients aged 4 or over at the index date

Exclusion Criteria:
1. Patients with a diagnosis, ever, for a chronic condition treated with OCS
2. Patients with a chronic AE outcome prior to the index date will be excluded from the analysis. This will ensure that the first chronic condition is the post index date incident event.

Age groups

Children (2 to < 12 years)
Adolescents (12 to < 18 years)
Adults (18 to < 46 years)
Adults (46 to < 65 years)
Adults (65 to < 75 years)
Adults (75 to < 85 years)
Adults (85 years and over)

Special population of interest

Other

Special population of interest, other

Patients with asthma

Estimated number of subjects

1200000
Study design details

Main study objective

1 To classify intermittent OCS prescriptions asthma patients and to describe by SABA and ICS use 2 To assess the association between patterns of intermittent OCS use and OCS-related adverse outcomes in patients with asthma. 3 To describe the impact of patterns of intermittent OCS use on the frequency of healthcare resource utilisation 4 To describe AEs for patients different average OCS doses

Outcomes

Primary outcome will be a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus, osteoporosis/osteoporotic fractures, hypertension, glaucoma, sleep apnoea, weight gain and depression/anxiety, pneumonia, cataracts, sleep disorders, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, dyslipidaemia and peptic ulcer disease, and in the adolescent population we will look for growth suppression and behavioural disorders, Healthcare resource utilisation

Data analysis plan

Objective 1: Baseline characteristics will be described for patients according to their longitudinal patterns of intermittent OCS use by GINA step, and ICS and SABA use. Objective 2: A matched historical cohort study will be performed with an assessment of potential confounders during a baseline period prior to the index date. Patients will be excluded if they had a record of the adverse event prior to their index date and categorised according to their patterns of OCS prescribing. Patients will be matched initially on gender, age, and the index date. Other potential confounders will be identified during the analysis, using potential bias assessments of covariates. Objective 3: HRU events will be described over the follow up period using the CPRD dataset. HRU events will be described in the baseline period and during the follow up for asthma-related and all-cause events using linked CPRD & HES. Objective 4: Describe the AE for patients with an average annual OCS doses.
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