This study will investigate the current prescriptions that asthma patients receive in primary care and which order they receive medications. This will be done by looking at which treatments patients are given and comparing this to recommendations from clinical experts in recognised guidelines. This information will then be graphed to create a picture of which order patients receive treatments and whether they follow a step-wise pattern. Asthma management is mostly based on a treatment add-on approach in which higher doses and higher numbers of drugs are prescribed as symptoms continue. Because of this, when treatments change they should follow a similar pattern. The study to be undertaken could help establish whether patient receive treatments in a similar way across the country. This would inform health care organisations as a whole and potentially specialist and general practitioners.
This study is a non-interventional cohort study using existing data provided by the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), to gain a qualitative description of asthma prescribing patterns in the United Kingdom. Current practice in comparison to the recommended guidelines has yet to be explored. The main objective of this study is to describe the treatment patterns and transitions between each asthma step in relation to recommended guidelines. Comorbidities and demographic information will be described for the groups of patients at different steps and summary statistics and measures of central tendency will be used to describe the cohort. The results from this study will be used to support the scientific understanding of how therapy guidelines are adhered to in primary care.
Patterns of use of chronic medication for patients.
Alicia Gayle - Chief Investigator - Imperial College London
Alicia Gayle - Corresponding Applicant - Imperial College London
Florent Guelfucci - Collaborator - Creativ-Ceutical ( do not use )
Gavin Chiu - Collaborator - Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc
Nikco Hau - Collaborator - Boehringer-Ingelheim Germany
Vincent Mak - Collaborator - Imperial College London