Investigating disparities in asthma outcomes by socioeconomic status
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigating disparities in asthma healthcare utilisation and outcomes by socioeconomic status: an analysis of linked data
IRAS ID
301279
Contact name
Abdul Qadr Akinoso-Imran
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queen's University Belfast
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 2 months, 30 days
Research summary
Asthma is a chronic disorder, which despite important advances in diagnosis and treatment, remains one of the most prevalent respiratory disorders, affecting over 400 million of the world’s population [1]. In Northern Ireland, 182,000 people (1 in 10) are currently receiving treatment for asthma, about 5% of whom have severe asthma, which is commonly defined as uncontrolled disease despite treatment with high dose inhaled corticosteroids or treatment with maintenance oral corticosteroids. These patients suffer a substantial morbidity burden, including frequent exacerbations, and are managed within the Belfast City Hospital Difficult Asthma Service.
Substantial research have been conducted highlighting that asthma disproportionately affects patients from deprived communities[2,3]. Socioeconomic status (SES) is particularly relevant to patients with asthma owing to the importance of environmental and psychosocial factors in the disease pathogenesis. Asthmatics of lower SES may have greater exposure to indoor (e.g. tobacco smoke, cockroaches) and outdoor (e.g. urban pollution) allergens [4], and have may higher rates of maintenance medication non-adherence [5], (using less inhaled corticosteroid [6]), thus increasing risk for acute asthma exacerbations [7].
Research has consistently shown that people in lower SES groups have greater risk of hospitalisation, ED visits and asthma mortality [7,8]. To quantify this disparity in NI and explore the mechanism underlying these disparities, this project aims to; a) investigate SES-related variations in asthma outcomes, morbidity and specialist care referral, whilst illuminating potential mediating factors, b) characterise the population of severe asthmatics in NI in terms of demographic and clinical factors, and c) measure disease trajectories.
REC name
North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 2 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/NE/0127
Date of REC Opinion
27 Jul 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion