Pneumonia is a common respiratory infection, and people with lung diseases such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are at higher risk of pneumonia than the general population. Some treatments that are used to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma, in particular inhaled steroids, may contribute to the increased pneumonia risk. However, these medications are commonly used in both diseases as they help to reduce symptoms and flare ups of the diseases. Previous studies have found mixed results when investigating this topic, this is in part because the definitions used for pneumonia and exacerbations often overlap. Some studies have shown inhaled steroids increased pneumonia risk and others that they do not. We have recently finished a study determining the most accurate way to find pneumonia events in electronic healthcare record data and will use this information to see if people prescribed inhaled steroids with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are at increased risk of pneumonia events compared with people not prescribed inhaled steroids.
Pneumonia is common, and people with lung diseases such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are at risk of pneumonia. Some treatments that are used to treat COPD and asthma, in particular inhaled corticosteroids (ICS), may contribute to the increased pneumonia risk. Previous studies have found mixed results when using routinely collected electronic healthcare record data, this is in part because the definitions used for pneumonia and exacerbations often overlap. We have recently finished a study determining the most accurate way to find pneumonia events using CPRD Aurum and HES APC (21_000468) and will use this information in addition to previously developed validated definitions to find exacerbation events to see if people prescribed ICS are at increased risk of pneumonia events compared with people not prescribed ICS. We will use a cohort of people with current asthma or COPD between 2010 and 2021 determined from CPRD Aurum. We will use regression models to estimate the association between asthma, or COPD and inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) and community acquired pneumonia (CAP) or exacerbations. We will adjust for multiple potential confounders (including age, gender, smoking, body mass index, disease severity). We will use HES APC data to find pneumonia and exacerbation events, HES A&E to also capture asthma events, IMD data to include socioeconomic status in the models and ONS for pneumonia mortality
Pneumonia
Asthma or COPD exacerbation
Jennifer Quint - Chief Investigator - Imperial College London
Jennifer Quint - Corresponding Applicant - Imperial College London
Alexander Adamson - Collaborator - Imperial College London
Chin Rong Ong - Collaborator - Imperial College London
Constantinos Kallis - Collaborator - Imperial College London
HES Accident and Emergency;HES Admitted Patient Care;ONS Death Registration Data;Patient Level Index of Multiple Deprivation