Eczema is a common long-term skin condition which can impact on the quality of life of the sufferer (via itching, sleep loss and social stigma), and their family. This study aims to estimate how much treatment of eczema in children costs the English NHS. We will select children with and without eczema ensuring the two groups are comparable in terms of age, sex and from the same General Practice. Other diseases linked to eczema including asthma and hay fever will also be considered. Information from two sources called Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CRPD) and linked Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) will identify the total use of resources and their costs for patients treated in the community and in hospital. The use of resources and costs will be shown according the patients age, other illnesses, and years since the eczema was first diagnosed. Understanding the current cost of eczema to the NHS will help with planning services and prioritising future research.
This study will estimate the total annual NHS resource use and costs for children with eczema. This work builds upon the work undertaken as part of ISAC Protocol 16_056 (entitled "Risk of eczema in children: a population-based study"). From HES-linked CPRD, children aged 0-17 years with an incidence of eczema by the end of March 2015 will be identified as cases, and will be 1:1 individually matched to controls based on age, gender, and General practice. All NHS primary and secondary care resource use during April 2014 to March 2015 will be extracted for cases and controls. Resource use will be costed using published unit costs for 2015 in £sterling. Descriptive statistics will describe children's characteristics, resource use and costs. Multivariate regression models for paired data will be used to examine the mean differences (with 95% confidence intervals) in healthcare costs between cases and controls with adjustment for potential confounders including comorbidities. The results will also be stratified by years since diagnosis, age, and comorbidities.
NHS primary and secondary care resource use and cost during April 2014 to March 2015
Tracey Sach - Chief Investigator - University of East Anglia
Tracey Sach - Corresponding Applicant - University of East Anglia
Emma McManus - Collaborator - University of East Anglia
Katrina Abuabara - Collaborator - University Of California, San Francisco
Kim Thomas - Collaborator - University of Nottingham
Lu Ban - Collaborator - University of Nottingham
Matthew Ridd - Collaborator - University of Bristol
Miriam Santer - Collaborator - University of Southampton
Nick Levell - Collaborator - Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals
Sinead Langan - Collaborator - London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine ( LSHTM )
Sonia Gran - Collaborator - University of Nottingham
HES Accident and Emergency;HES Admitted Patient Care;HES Outpatient;Patient Level Index of Multiple Deprivation;Practice Level Index of Multiple Deprivation