Risk factors for asthma-related hospital and intensive care admissions in children, adolescents and adults: a cohort study using primary and secondary care data.

BACKGROUND: Asthma remains a common cause of hospital admissions across the life course. We estimated the contribution of key risk factors to asthma-related hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions in children, adolescents and adults. METHODS: This was a UK-based cohort study using linked primary care (Clinical Practice Research Datalink Aurum) and secondary care (Hospital Episode Statistics Admitted Patient Care) data. Patients were eligible if they were aged 5 years and older and had been diagnosed with asthma. This included 90 989 children aged 5-11 years, 114 927 adolescents aged 12-17 years and 1 179 410 adults aged 18 years or older. The primary outcome was asthma-related hospital admissions from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2019. The secondary outcome was asthma-related ICU admissions. Incidence rate ratios adjusted for demographic and clinical risk factors were estimated using negative binomial models. Population attributable fraction (PAF) was estimated for modifiable risk factors. RESULTS: Younger age groups, females and those from ethnic minority and lower socioeconomic backgrounds had an increased risk of asthma-related hospital admissions. Increasing medication burden, including excessive use of short-acting bronchodilators, was also strongly associated with the primary outcome. Similar risk factors were observed for asthma-related ICU admissions. The key potentially modifiable or treatable risk factors were smoking in adolescents and adults (PAF 6.8%, 95% CI 0.9% to 12.3% and 4.3%, 95% CI 3.0% to 5.7%, respectively), and obesity (PAF 23.3%, 95% CI 20.5% to 26.1%), depression (11.1%, 95% CI 9.1% to 13.1%), gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (2.3%, 95% CI 1.2% to 3.4%), anxiety (2.0%, 95% CI 0.5% to 3.6%) and chronic rhinosinusitis (0.8%, 95% CI 0.3% to 1.3%) in adults. CONCLUSIONS: There are significant sociodemographic inequalities in the rates of asthma-related hospital and ICU admissions. Treating age-specific modifiable risk factors should be considered an integral part of asthma management, which could potentially reduce the rate of avoidable hospital admissions.

Prodromal symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis in a primary care database: variation by ethnicity and socioeconomic status.

OBJECTIVES: To assess whether prodromal symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), as recorded in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink Aurum (CPRD) database of English primary care records, differ by ethnicity and socioeconomic status. METHODS: A cross-sectional study to determine the coding of common symptoms (≥0.1% in the sample) in the 24 months preceding RA diagnosis in CPRD Aurum, recorded between January 1st 2004 to May 1st 2022. Eligible cases were adults with a code for RA diagnosis. For each symptom, a logistic regression was performed with the symptom as dependent variable, and ethnicity and socioeconomic status as independent variables. Results were adjusted for sex, age, BMI, and smoking status. White ethnicity and the highest socioeconomic quintile were comparators. RESULTS: In total, 70115 cases were eligible for inclusion, of which 66.4% female. Twenty-one symptoms were coded in > 0.1% of cases so were included in the analysis. Patients of South Asian ethnicity had higher frequency of codes for several symptoms, with the largest difference by odds ratio being muscle cramps (OR 1.71, 1.44-2.57) and shoulder pain (1.44, 1.25-1.66). Patients of Black ethnicity had higher prevalence of several codes including unintended weight loss (2.02, 1.25-3.28) and ankle pain (1.51, 1.02-2.23). Low socioeconomic status was associated with morning stiffness (1.74, 1.08-2.80) and falls (1.37, 2.03-1.82). CONCLUSION: There are significant differences in coded symptoms between demographic groups, which must be considered in clinical practice in diverse populations and to avoid algorithmic bias in prediction tools derived from routinely collected healthcare data.

Long-term impact of pre-incision antibiotics on children born by caesarean section: a longitudinal study based on UK electronic health records.

BACKGROUND: Since changes in the national guidance in 2011, prophylactic antibiotics for women undergoing caesarean section are recommended prior to skin incision, rather than after the baby's umbilical cord has been clamped. Evidence from randomised controlled trials conducted outside the UK has shown that this reduces maternal infectious morbidity; however, the prophylactic antibiotics also cross the placenta, meaning that babies are exposed to them around the time of birth. Antibiotics are known to affect the gut microbiota of the babies, but the long-term effects of exposure to high-dose broad-spectrum antibiotics around the time of birth on allergy and immune-related diseases are unknown. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to examine whether or not in-utero exposure to antibiotics immediately prior to birth compared with no pre-incisional antibiotic exposure increases the risk of (1) asthma and (2) eczema in children born by caesarean section. DESIGN: This was a controlled interrupted time series study. SETTING: The study took place in primary and secondary care. PARTICIPANTS: Children born in the UK during 2006-18 delivered by caesarean section were compared with a control cohort delivered vaginally. INTERVENTIONS: In-utero exposure to antibiotics immediately prior to birth. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Asthma and eczema in children in the first 5 years of life. Additional secondary outcomes, including other allergy-related conditions, autoimmune diseases, infections, other immune system-related diseases and neurodevelopmental conditions, were also assessed. DATA SOURCES: The Health Improvement Network (THIN) and the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) primary care databases and the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) database. Previously published linkage strategies were adapted to link anonymised data on mothers and babies in these databases. Duplicate practices contributing to both THIN and the CPRD databases were removed to create a THIN-CPRD data set. RESULTS: In the THIN-CPRD and HES data sets, records of 515,945 and 3,945,351 mother-baby pairs were analysed, respectively. The risk of asthma was not significantly higher in children born by caesarean section exposed to pre-incision antibiotics than in children whose mothers received post-cord clamping antibiotics, with an incidence rate ratio of 0.91 (95% confidence interval 0.78 to 1.05) for diagnosis of asthma in primary care and an incidence rate ratio of 1.05 (95% confidence interval 0.99 to 1.11) for asthma resulting in a hospital admission. We also did not find an increased risk of eczema, with an incidence rate ratio of 0.98 (95% confidence interval 0.94 to1.03) and an incidence rate ratio of 0.96 (95% confidence interval 0.71 to 1.29) for diagnosis in primary care and hospital admissions, respectively. LIMITATIONS: It was not possible to ascertain the exposure to pre-incision antibiotics at an individual level. The maximum follow-up of children was 5 years. CONCLUSIONS: There was no evidence that the policy change from post-cord clamping to pre-incision prophylactic antibiotics for caesarean sections during 2006-18 had an impact on the incidence of asthma and eczema in early childhood in the UK. FUTURE WORK: There is a need for further research to investigate if pre-incision antibiotics have any impact on developing asthma and other allergy and immune-related conditions in older children. STUDY REGISTRATION: This study is registered as researchregistry3736. FUNDING: This project was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 26, No. 30. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

WHAT WAS THE QUESTION?: Women giving birth by caesarean section are at risk of developing infections (such as wound infections) and are offered antibiotics at the time of their operation to reduce this risk. In 2011, the national guidelines changed from recommending antibiotics after cord clamping to giving them before the operation to further reduce the risk of maternal infection. During birth, the newborn gut is colonised by microbes. Antibiotics given to the mother before caesarean section can reach the baby through the placenta and disrupt the normal microbes that colonise the gut. These microbes are believed to play a role in the development of the immune system and altering the normal development of these microbes has been linked to children developing allergic conditions, such as asthma and eczema. This study investigated whether or not giving antibiotics before the caesarean section had a longer-term impact on children's health. WHAT DID WE DO?: We used routine NHS information already collected by hospitals and general practitioners about women who gave birth in the UK between 2006 and 2018, and their children. We compared the risk of asthma, eczema and other health conditions in the first 5 years after birth in children born by caesarean section before and after the change in hospital policies. We also compared their health with children born vaginally. WHAT DID WE FIND?: We found that there was no increased risk of asthma or eczema for children born by caesarean section after the policy decision in 2011 to give the mother antibiotics before the operation. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?: The study findings provide further evidence for the current recommendation to give preventative antibiotics to women shortly before the caesarean section to reduce the overall risk of infections after birth.

Assessment of the role of the Edinburgh dysphagia score in referral triage in a national service evaluation of the urgent suspected upper gastrointestinal cancer pathway.

BACKGROUND: The British Society of Gastroenterology has recommended the Edinburgh Dysphagia Score (EDS) to risk-stratify dysphagia referrals during the endoscopy COVID recovery phase. AIMS: External validation of the diagnostic accuracy of EDS and exploration of potential changes to improve its diagnostic performance. METHODS: A prospective multicentre study of consecutive patients referred with dysphagia on an urgent suspected upper gastrointestinal (UGI) cancer pathway between May 2020 and February 2021. The sensitivity and negative predictive value (NPV) of EDS were calculated. Variables associated with UGI cancer were identified by forward stepwise logistic regression and a modified Cancer Dysphagia Score (CDS) developed. RESULTS: 1301 patients were included from 19 endoscopy providers; 43% male; median age 62 (IQR 51-73) years. 91 (7%) UGI cancers were diagnosed, including 80 oesophageal, 10 gastric and one duodenal cancer. An EDS ≥3.5 had a sensitivity of 96.7 (95% CI 90.7-99.3)% and an NPV of 99.3 (97.8-99.8)%. Age, male sex, progressive dysphagia and unintentional weight loss >3 kg were positively associated and acid reflux and localisation to the neck were negatively associated with UGI cancer. Dysphagia duration <6 months utilised in EDS was replaced with progressive dysphagia in CDS. CDS ≥5.5 had a sensitivity of 97.8 (92.3-99.7)% and NPV of 99.5 (98.1-99.9)%. Area under receiver operating curve was 0.83 for CDS, compared to 0.81 for EDS. CONCLUSIONS: In a national cohort, the EDS has high sensitivity and NPV as a triage tool for UGI cancer. The CDS offers even higher diagnostic accuracy. The EDS or CDS should be incorporated into the urgent suspected UGI cancer pathway.

Cardio-metabolic outcomes in South Asians compared to White Europeans in the United Kingdom: a matched controlled population-based cohort study.

BACKGROUND: There appears to be an inequality in the risk of cardio-metabolic disease between those from a South Asian (SA) background when compared to those of White Europeans (WE) descendance, however, this association has not been explored in a large European cohort. This population-based open retrospective cohort explores the incidence of cardio-metabolic disease in those without pre-existing cardiometabolic disease taken from a large UK primary care database from 1st January 2007 to 31st December 2017. METHODS: A retrospective open cohort matched population-based study using The Health Improvement Network (THIN) database. The outcomes of this study were the incidences of cardio-metabolic events (type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, ischemic heart disease, stroke, heart failure, and atrial fibrillation). RESULTS: A total of 94,870 SA patients were matched with 189,740 WE patients. SA were at an increased risk of developing: T2DM (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 3.1; 95% CI 2.97-3.23); HTN (1.34; 95% CI: 1.29-1.39); ischaemic heart disease (IHD) (1.81; 95% CI: 1.68-1.93) and heart failure (HF) (1.11; 95% CI: 1.003-1.24). However, they were at a lower risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) (0.53; 95% CI: 0.48-0.59) when compared to WE. Of those of SA origin, the Bangladeshi community were at the greatest risk of T2DM, HTN, IHD and HF, but were at the lowest risk of AF in when compared to Indians and Pakistanis. CONCLUSION: Considering the high risk of cardio-metabolic diseases in the SA cohort, differential public health measures should be considered in these patients to reduce their risk of disease, which may be furthered tailored depending on their country of origin.