Chronic respiratory diseases like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are long-term conditions affecting respiratory tract and are a major public health concern globally. It is estimated that around 200 million people worldwide are affected by COPD with additional 300 million people suffering from asthma (1). The prevalence of these conditions is increasing, particularly among children and elderly people, and evidence suggests that both asthma and COPD are underdiagnosed and undertreated (2,3). In Ireland, the prevalence of asthma and COPD in the population aged 18+ are estimated to be around 6.9% ( 6.1, 7.8) and 1.8% (1.4, 2.2) and both conditions are prioritized by the Irish Integrated Care Programme for the Prevention and Management of Chronic diseases (4,5).
The economic burden of asthma and COPD can be considered in terms of both direct medical costs such as health service use and indirect costs such as loss of productivity and premature death. Although no cure currently exists for these conditions, much of the disease burden can be avoided through early diagnosis and effective management of disease symptoms (1). Preventive measures can decrease the occurrence of new cases of the disease, in particular through rising awareness of well-established risk factors such as tobacco use, air pollution and allergens (1). The implementation of such preventive strategies and optimal disease management at the national level should be evidence-based and rely on an adequate assessment of available data in Ireland to produce robust estimates of disease burden.
Using data from the 1st wave of the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), this project aims to:
Provide valid and reliable estimates of the burden of asthma and COPD in Ireland and explore the variation among their main risk factors.
Explore the excess health service use attributable to asthma and COPD in Ireland and associated costs
