Burden of disease and unmet clinical needs in pediatric patients with asthma: real-world experience from the United States and five European countries.

Objective: Childhood asthma is a multifaceted, chronic respiratory disease; data on its burden in real-world settings are still scarce. We aimed to assess the burden of pediatric asthma and challenges with current management.

Methods: Data were drawn from the Adelphi Disease Specific Programme™, a cross-sectional survey of physicians, pediatric patients with moderate and severe asthma, and their parents/guardians in five European countries and the United States between July 2021 and February 2022 (index). Demographics, clinical characteristics, diagnostic tests, symptoms, treatment patterns, and healthcare resource utilization data were collected from 12 months pre-index period or medical history, stratified by 2- to 5- and 6- to <12-year age groups.

Results: Data on 1332 patients were collected (mean age, 7.8 years; physician-confirmed asthma, 80.3%). Overall, 92% of patients were perceived as having moderate asthma; ∼51% had type 2 (T2) comorbidities. Significant inter-country differences (p < .05) were observed for ethnicity, confirmed asthma diagnosis, receipt of asthma medication, and ongoing T2 comorbidities in the 6 to <12 years age group. Approximately, 80% of patients experienced at least one asthma-related symptom in the past 4 weeks, including shortness of breath (21.0%), wheezing (31.0%), and persistent cough (23.0%). Inhaled corticosteroids plus short-acting drugs were prescribed to one-fourth of patients aged 6 to <12 years. Of all, 62% patients had experienced at least one exacerbation in the past 12 months.

Conclusions: In our study, a substantial proportion of pediatric asthma patients had T2 comorbidities, high symptomatic burden, and elevated risk of exacerbations, highlighting an unmet need in disease management.