Clinical, Economic, and Humanistic Burden of Asthma in Canada
Clinical, Economic, and Humanistic Burden of Asthma in Canada
We conducted a search of the PubMed, EMBASE, and EMCare databases to identify original research (cross-sectional, observational, or longitudinal studies on the burden-of-illness and cost-of-illness) published from 2000 to 2011 on the burden of asthma in Canada. Review articles, letters, editorials, commentaries, studies reporting summaries of meeting proceedings or conferences, abstracts or posters presented at scientific meetings, and studies assessing the efficacy or effectiveness of specific interventions were not included. The time frame was selected to reflect more recent developments in the treatment and management of asthma in Canada.
Each search was conducted using controlled vocabulary and key words, with "asthma" as the main search concept. Search terms included "Canada," "cost of illness," "hospitalization," "utilization," "burden of illness," "quality of life," "sickness impact profile," and "healthcare cost." Appendix shows the detailed search strategies for each topic area. Searches were limited to articles published in English and studies involving humans. Studies were restricted to Canada.
Titles and abstracts of articles identified were carefully screened in the initial review for relevance to the topic. At the second review, articles were selected for inclusion based on predefined acceptance criteria, which included relevant patient population (ie, adults/children diagnosed with asthma) and appropriate study design and outcome measures (patient- and population-level). Two independent reviewers determined whether studies met the inclusion criteria, and discrepancies between reviewer decisions were resolved in consensus.
Reasons for study exclusions were recorded. For articles that met predefined inclusion/exclusion criteria, the quality of the studies was assessed using methodological checklists provided in the NICE Guidelines Manual and the STROBE (STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology) guidelines. Key data elements were abstracted and tabulated in summary tables: year and type of study, number of study subjects, asthma definition, characteristics of study population, outcomes evaluated, results, and overall conclusions of the study.
Reported costs were inflated to 2011 Canadian dollars (CAD) using the Consumer Price Index from Statistics Canada.
Methods
We conducted a search of the PubMed, EMBASE, and EMCare databases to identify original research (cross-sectional, observational, or longitudinal studies on the burden-of-illness and cost-of-illness) published from 2000 to 2011 on the burden of asthma in Canada. Review articles, letters, editorials, commentaries, studies reporting summaries of meeting proceedings or conferences, abstracts or posters presented at scientific meetings, and studies assessing the efficacy or effectiveness of specific interventions were not included. The time frame was selected to reflect more recent developments in the treatment and management of asthma in Canada.
Each search was conducted using controlled vocabulary and key words, with "asthma" as the main search concept. Search terms included "Canada," "cost of illness," "hospitalization," "utilization," "burden of illness," "quality of life," "sickness impact profile," and "healthcare cost." Appendix shows the detailed search strategies for each topic area. Searches were limited to articles published in English and studies involving humans. Studies were restricted to Canada.
Titles and abstracts of articles identified were carefully screened in the initial review for relevance to the topic. At the second review, articles were selected for inclusion based on predefined acceptance criteria, which included relevant patient population (ie, adults/children diagnosed with asthma) and appropriate study design and outcome measures (patient- and population-level). Two independent reviewers determined whether studies met the inclusion criteria, and discrepancies between reviewer decisions were resolved in consensus.
Reasons for study exclusions were recorded. For articles that met predefined inclusion/exclusion criteria, the quality of the studies was assessed using methodological checklists provided in the NICE Guidelines Manual and the STROBE (STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology) guidelines. Key data elements were abstracted and tabulated in summary tables: year and type of study, number of study subjects, asthma definition, characteristics of study population, outcomes evaluated, results, and overall conclusions of the study.
Reported costs were inflated to 2011 Canadian dollars (CAD) using the Consumer Price Index from Statistics Canada.
Source...