Asthma medication from 2 to 13 years in a Swedish birth cohort

Background: Type of asthma medication changes during childhood. Aims and Objectives: To study the pattern of dispensed asthma medication at different ages and the changes during childhood. Methods: Data were obtained from a longitudinal cohort study of children born in 2003 in western Sweden. The parents answered questionnaires from the age of 6 months to 12 years. The response rate at age 12 years was 64% of the 5654 included at admission in 2003. Data from the Swedish Drug Register from year 2005 to 2016 was linked to our cohort. Results: Between the age 2 to 13 years, 30% (1085/3634) collected asthma medication from the pharmacies and the per cent who were dispensed asthma medication varied from 6% to 11% per year. At 12 years, 7.3% received asthma medication, which can be compared with a reported doctor-diagnosed asthma of 6.4% in the cohort at age 12. The changing pattern of asthma medication during childhood is shown in Figure 1. At 12 years, 38% received a short acting beta-2 agonist (SABA) only, 41% inhaled corticosteroids (ICS), usually combined with SABA, and an additional 18% a combination of ICS and a long acting beta-2 agonist (LABA). ICS combined with LABA increased from 2% to 22% from 2 to 13 years. Dispensed ICS (any) varied from 47% at 2 years to 76% at 10 years. Conclusion: Among the 12-year-old asthmatics 59% were dispensed ICS but as many as 38% received no other asthma medication than a short acting beta-2 agonist.