title: Estimating the incidence, prevalence and true cost of asthma in the UK: secondary analysis of national stand-alone and linked databases in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales-a study protocol.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Asthma is now one of the most common long-term conditions in the UK. It is therefore important to develop a comprehensive appreciation of the healthcare and societal costs in order to inform decisions on care provision and planning. We plan to build on our earlier estimates of national prevalence and costs from asthma by filling the data gaps previously identified in relation to healthcare and broadening the field of enquiry to include societal costs. This work will provide the first UK-wide estimates of the costs of asthma. In the context of asthma for the UK and its member countries (ie, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales), we seek to: (1) produce a detailed overview of estimates of incidence, prevalence and healthcare utilisation; (2) estimate health and societal costs; (3) identify any remaining information gaps and explore the feasibility of filling these and (4) provide insights into future research that has the potential to inform changes in policy leading to the provision of more cost-effective care.
  
  
  METHODS
  Secondary analyses of data from national health surveys, primary care, prescribing, emergency care, hospital, mortality and administrative data sources will be undertaken to estimate prevalence, healthcare utilisation and outcomes from asthma. Data linkages and economic modelling will be undertaken in an attempt to populate data gaps and estimate costs. Separate prevalence and cost estimates will be calculated for each of the UK-member countries and these will then be aggregated to generate UK-wide estimates.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Approvals have been obtained from the NHS Scotland Information Services Division's Privacy Advisory Committee, the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage Collaboration Review System, the NHS South-East Scotland Research Ethics Service and The University of Edinburgh's Centre for Population Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee. We will produce a report for Asthma-UK, submit papers to peer-reviewed journals and construct an interactive map.
authors.affiliation: Allergy & Respiratory Research Group, Centre for Population Health Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK Edinburgh Health Services Research Unit, Centre for Population Health Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Mome
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3083-436X
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mukherjee
authors.affiliation: Population Health Research Institute, St George's, University of London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Ramyani
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Swansea Centre for Health Economics (SCHE), College of Human and Health Science, Swansea University, Swansea, UK.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Farr
authors.affiliation: CIPHER-Centre for the Improvement of Population Health through e-Records Research, Centre for Health Information, Research and Evaluation (CHIRAL), College of Medicine, Institute of Life Science 2 (ILS2), Swansea University, Swansea, UK.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heaven
authors.affiliation: Edinburgh Health Services Research Unit, Centre for Population Health Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stoddart
authors.affiliation: Allergy & Respiratory Research Group, Centre for Population Health Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Bright I
authors.initials: BI
authors.lastname: Nwaru
authors.affiliation: Swansea Centre for Health Economics (SCHE), College of Human and Health Science, Swansea University, Swansea, UK.
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fitzsimmons
authors.affiliation: Swansea Centre for Health Economics (SCHE), College of Human and Health Science, Swansea University, Swansea, UK.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chamberlain
authors.affiliation: CIPHER-Centre for the Improvement of Population Health through e-Records Research, Centre for Health Information, Research and Evaluation (CHIRAL), College of Medicine, Institute of Life Science 2 (ILS2), Swansea University, Swansea, UK.
authors.forename: Amrita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bandyopadhyay
authors.affiliation: Information Services Division (ISD), NHS National Services Scotland, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fischbacher
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography & Sustainable Development, School of Geography & Geosciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dibben
authors.affiliation: Centre for Infection and Immunity, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shields
authors.affiliation: Swansea Centre for Health Economics (SCHE), College of Human and Health Science, Swansea University, Swansea, UK.
authors.forename: Ceri
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.affiliation: Population Health Research Institute, St George's, University of London, London, UK.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Strachan
authors.affiliation: Asthma & Allergy Group, Institute of Life Science, College of Medicine, Swansea University, Swansea, UK.
authors.forename: Gwyneth
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.affiliation: Allergy & Respiratory Research Group, Centre for Population Health Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK Edinburgh Health Services Research Unit, Centre for Population Health Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: McKinstry
authors.affiliation: Edinburgh Health Services Research Unit, Centre for Population Health Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Aziz
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sheikh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: EPIDEMIOLOGY; HEALTH ECONOMICS