Grant: Op Grant: Data Analysis - Reproductive, Maternal, Child and Youth Health

Bronchiolitis is a viral illness that affects infants during winter months causing fever, cough, wheezing and difficulty breathing. It is the most common disease of the lungs during the first year of life. Asthma is the most common pediatric lung disorder in North America with one in five children being diagnosed with asthma by age 10. Evidence has suggested that bronchiolitis during infancy is associated with development of asthma in later life. Better understanding of the relationship between bronchiolitis and future asthma is needed. We propose a study that will link clinical data from two emergency department-based (ED) bronchiolitis studies to provincial health administrative databases. Through linkage of ED-based clinical data to health administrative datasets, we will have a rich source of data from which to enhance our understanding of the long-term respiratory effects of interventions used to treat bronchiolitis and also identify risk factors (such as child's clinical course, demographic and maternal factors and health service utilization related risk factors) associated with future development of asthma. Our goal is to generate evidence on the long-term respiratory outcome of children after bronchiolitis, specifically the development of asthma at a later stage of childhood. Identification of risk factors and predictors associated with development of asthma may identify specific populations who may benefit from targeted intervention and also allow heath care providers and parents to better anticipate future healthcare needs.