University of Edinburgh

Dr Holly Tibble

Data-Driven Innovation Health and Social Care Talent Programme

DL_2023_045

Asthma affects more than 1 in 10 people in the UK. If untreated, asthma attacks can lead to unease and at worst death. In the UK alone, every 10 seconds, someone has an asthma attack. The main method of treating asthma is using regular preventer medication. This comes in the form of an inhaler, and patients are asked to take their inhaler daily to lessen the risk of an asthma attack. However, there are many reasons why patients don’t take their inhaler, which can vary between adults and children. This study will explore which groups of patients are not taking their inhaler regularly and whether this has changed over time. Using this information can improve the education we offer around medication use and reduce the number of asthma attacks.

Asthma affects over 8 million people in the UK and every 10 seconds in the UK alone, someone has an asthma attack, which can inhibit everyday life or in the worst case, lead to death. Asthma is a long-term respiratory condition that currently has no cure, thus it requires patients to take regular preventer medication (inhaled corticosteroids (ICS)) to avoid symptoms and asthma attacks. The COVID-19 pandemic added complexity to asthma management, leading to a surge in demand for ICS inhalers. However, the adherence to ICS is often poor, especially in children. Factors contributing to irregularities include patients forgetting to take medication, fear of side effects, and not understanding the medication. This research seeks to investigate demographic determinants and the impact of the COVID-19 on regularity of collection of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) among paediatric and adult asthma patients in Scotland utilising the Respiratory Registry created by DataLoch. Herein, regularity of collection is used as a proxy for adherence. Crucially, it is easily calculable from prescription records and can be used in lieu of complex analyses involving natural language processing of dose directions required to estimate if there are periods without medication available. Understanding medication collection patterns can lead to better targeted education around medication and better-informed provision of care. Overall, it is hoped that this will lead to less asthma attacks, asthma-related hospitalisations, and asthma-related deaths.

Public Health Research

11/01/2024

De-Personalised

TRE