| Abstract [eng] |
SUMMARY Background: Asthma is a prevalent respiratory condition that impacts both children and adults worldwide. Numerous studies have investigated medication utilization to enhance the understanding of pediatric asthma management. However, there is limited information regarding asthma medication use among Lithuanian children. This study aims to elucidate the trends in asthma medication utilization among Lithuanian pediatric patients, ultimately contributing to improved asthma management strategies. Aim: To investigate the research utilization prevalence and incidence of Asthma medicine use in children and adolescents between 02 and 17 years in Lithuania from 2014 to 2019. Research objectives: 1. To assess the incidence of asthma medications among boys and girls in different age and sex groups of children from 2 years old to 17 years old. 2. To assess the prevalence of asthma medications among boys and girls in different age and sex groups of children from 2 years old to 17 years old. 3. To assess how the incidence and prevalence of different asthma medicines have changed from 2014 to 2019. 4. To assess frequency of different asthma medicine combinations dispensed. To assess how the iIncidence and prevalence of different asthma medicines have changed over the period of from 2013 – to 2019. Methodology: In this study, the annual asthma medicine utilization trends were calculated and expressed using prevalence and incidence per 1000 inhabitants per year and in percentages. Dispensing data of anti-asthmatic drugs were collected from the Compulsory Health Insurance Information System "Sveidra". Results and conclusions: Throughout the study period of 2014 to -2019 in Lithuania the incidence and prevalence decreased. The incidence of asthma medication was the highest in 0-5 male and female groups throughout the study period of 21 and 14 per 1000 inhabitants per year, respectively and moving to adolesence years asthma medication inidence got lower in both, males and females. Incidence of asthma medication from to 2015 to 2019 decreased by 15.24% (from 15 down to 14 per 1000 inhabitants) and 7.11% (from 10 down to 9 per 1000 inhabitants). Prevalence of asthma medication from to 2014 to 2019 decreased by 23.53% (from 51 down to 39 per 1000 inhabitants) and 25% (from 32 down to 24 per 1000 inhabitants) in males and females, respectively. Moreover, SABA had the highest incidence in 2015 and prevalence in 2014 of 1.44% and 4.17%, respectively, however in 2019 the incidence and prevalence was the higest of LABA of 1.24% and 3.10%, respectively, in the youngest age group of males aged 0-5 years old. In 2014 the most dispensed asthma medications in combination were ICS+LABA fixed combination with SABA and LABA, however there were notable change throughout the study years and in 2019 the most dispensed asthma medications in combination were only SABA and LABA. In conlusion, this study results show that there is room for improvement in asthma medication utilization in children, as analysed trends show that in Lithuania asthma medication utilization does not reflect the ones in current international recommendations. |
