Determining the prevalence of severe asthma in children in UK primary care

Study type

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

  Drug utilisation

Non-interventional study

• Non-interventional study design:
  Other
• Non-interventional study design, other:
  Retrospective epidemiological database study

Study drug and medical condition

• Medical condition to be studied:
  Asthma

Population studied

• Age groups:
  Children (2 to < 12 years)

  Adolescents (12 to < 18 years)
• Estimated number of subjects:
  0

Study design details

• Main study objective:
  A descriptive characterisation of children with potentially severe asthma including a comparison between those who have been referred to a secondary care specialist with those who have not been referred.
• Outcomes:
  1) To determine the annual incidence of children in UK with severe asthma using primary care data. 2) Applying different criteria for defining severe asthma (ref: Ahmed H, Turner S. Severe asthma in children-a review of definitions, epidemiology, and treatment options in 2019. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2019 Jun,54(6):778-787. doi: 10.1002/ppul.24317. Epub 2019 Mar 18. PMID: 30884194). The annual incidence of: 1. new-onset severe asthma in children with asthma, 2. prevalence of high SABA use, 3. referral to a secondary care specialist, 4. children meeting the NICE eligibility criteria for biologic treatment, 5.children with severe asthma referred to a secondary care specialist with those who are not referred to a secondary care specialist and remain treated solely in UK primary.
• Data analysis plan:
  The data for the 2-5 yr age group and the 6-16 yr old age group will each be analysed separately. We will calculate the percentage of patients with severe asthma that are identified in the patient’s primary care records by GPs as having severe asthma, and also the percentage of patient’s who are identified in the UK primary care records by GPs as having severe asthma despite not meeting our criteria for severe asthma. The 2 cohorts, those referred to a secondary care specialist and those not referred to a secondary care specialist, will be compared. Continuous variables will be given a mean and standard deviation, and differences in characteristics between the groups assessed with Kruskal-Wallis tests. Categorical variables will be given as count and percentage by category, and differences in characteristics between the groups will be assessed with chi-squared tests/Fisher’s exact tests. The incidence of severe asthma remission of children who met the criteria will also be calculated.