Department of Primary Care & Public Health, Imperial College London & Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

ID 326

Investigating the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic measures on subsequent preschool wheeze, salbutamol inhaler use and respiratory infection admissions in children born during the pandemic in NWL.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the use of lockdowns, social distancing, hand hygiene and mask wearing measures were implemented to reduce the spread of this airway virus. This also reduced the spread of other airway infections. Preschool children commonly present with wheeze due to an airway infection. They often require medication in the form of a reliever inhaler, known as a salbutamol inhaler, to improve their breathing. This study aims to look at the impact of the covid-19 pandemic measures on preschool wheeze, salbutamol inhaler use and airway infections in children born during the pandemic (March 2020-February 2021) in North West London. Understanding the effect of the the above measures on salbutamol inhaler prescribing in children born during the pandemic will help us use this as a marker for changes in the presentation of preschool wheeze and how severe the wheeze is. This will help us understand if this has changed from previous years before the pandemic. Looking at children born during the pandemic who needed to be admitted to hospital with an airway infection will help us to understand if this is different from previous years before the pandemic. We will also be able to better understand if the airway infections are more or less severe compared to before the pandemic. This will help us shape our services and allocate resources accordingly. Overall, it will help us to improve how we treat children and young people. We also aim to look at children born during the pandemic who are more deprived. We will look at the effect of this social deprivation on salbutamol inhaler use and hospital admissions for airway infections. Findings from this will help us to target useful and relevant resources and support to children who need It most in North West London. These findings can potentially be generalised for London and parts of the UK which are similar to North West London. This will help to further guide service and resource allocation and funding.

20/04/2023

TRE