11-year longitudinal asthma trajectories based on dispensed medications in a population-based Swedish birth cohort

<bold>Background:</bold> Heterogeneous trajectories can be seen in childhood asthma. However, there are limited data on trajectories based on use of asthma medication. <bold>Aims and objectives</bold>: To identify and characterize asthma trajectories based on dispensed medications in Swedish children. <bold>Methods:</bold> In a population-based birth cohort (N=5,654), dispensed medication data were linked from the National Prescribed Drug Register from 2 to 13 years of age. Used asthma medication for each year of follow-up was grouped as follows: 1) short-acting β-agonists (SABA); 2) inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) or leukotriene receptor antagonists (LTRA); 4) ICS and (long-acting β-agonists [LABA] or LTRA). In subjects with at least one dispensed medication during the follow-up (n=1,018), Latent Class Analysis was utilized to identify asthma medication use trajectories. The optimal model was selected using Bayesian information criterion together with clinical interpretability. <bold>Results:</bold> During the follow-up to 13 years of age, four clinically distinct medication use trajectories were identified (<bold>Figure 1</bold>). <bold>Conclusions:</bold> Distinct longitudinal asthma medication use trajectories can be seen in children, indicating different courses of asthma that correspond rather well to previously described trajectories of asthma and wheezing disorder in children. <fig><object-id>erj;64/suppl_68/PA2238/F1</object-id><object-id>F1</object-id><object-id>F1</object-id><graphic></graphic></fig> <bold>Figure 1. Identified asthma medication use trajectories in children up to 13 years.</bold>