Building a Clinical Prediction Rule to Detect Respiratory Morbidity in Young Children and a Population Monitoring Rule to Measure Respiratory Health Services Use and Health Outcomes

Project Information

Project Title:

Building a Clinical Prediction Rule to Detect Respiratory Morbidity in Young Children and a Population Monitoring Rule to Measure Respiratory Health Services Use and Health Outcomes

Principal Investigator(s):

To, Teresa

Co-Investigators:

Abdullah, KAWSARI ; Gershon, Andrea Sara ; Lou, Wen-Yi Wendy ; Subbarao, Padmaja

Institution:

Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto)

Agency:

Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Program:

Operating Grant: Analyses of Existing Cohorts & Databases

Period:

from: 2017-03-01 to: 2018-02-28

Funding information:

Keywords:

ASTHMA, ASTHME, CASE VALIDATION, DISEASE BURDEN AND MANAGEMENT, EARLY DETECTION, EPIDEMIOLOGIE, EPIDEMIOLOGY, HEALTH SERVICES, HEALTH SERVICES UTILIZATION, LES SERVICES DE SANTÉ, POPULATION HEALTH, POPULATION SURVEILLANCE, PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN, PREDICTION RULE, SANTÉ DES POPULATIONS

Abstract:

In Canada, lung diseases cause more hospitalizations among preschoolers than any other disease and are expensive to look after. Even though many chronic lung diseases like asthma seem to begin at a young age, they usually are not diagnosed until a few years later. Because of this delay, lung diseases may go untreated in young children, and this could lead to worse health. We believe that the delay in diagnosis happens because lung tests in young children are not being used in the best way possible to predict which children will have lung diseases. Our team will link a birth cohort with population databases (health administrative data and environmental exposures data) to 1) develop tools to predict lung diseases in young children and 2) monitor the health of young children in Ontario who might have lung diseases. The birth cohort data come from the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) Study-a study that has collected a lot of health, lifestyle and other information since the children were babies, including state-of-the-art lung tests from infancy to preschool age. The health administrative data are provided by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES), and they will show us how many times children in Ontario saw a doctor or went to the emergency room or hospital for breathing problems. Finally, the environmental exposures data from the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change will show us how clean or dirty the air around children’s houses is may affect their lung health. When our prediction and monitoring tools are used in the at-risk population of young children, it may be possible to predict lung diseases earlier in young children, and even to stop these diseases from worsening. Lung diseases are a significant health problem in Canada, leading to many emergency room visits and hospital stays. Therefore, catching these diseases early will improve children’s lung health and lessen the burden on the Canadian health care system.