Journal Article

6710 Impact of Covid-19 pandemic on salbutamol prescriptions in pre-school children: a retrospective cohort study in Northwest London

Arora, Sandeepa, Longford, Nick, Punjabi, Nikita, Hargreaves, Dougal

2024

Overview

ObjectivesChildren born during the Covid-19 pandemic had reduced exposure to early-life respiratory infections compared to pre-pandemic cohorts. This study investigated whether varying level of infection exposure was associated with differing patterns of salbutamol prescription.MethodsA retrospective cohort study using the Northwest London Discover dataset (94% NWL population coverage) including prescription data from General Practice systems. Four birth cohorts were tracked for three years to investigate the impact of Covid-19 on salbutamol prescriptions. Logistic regression assessed cohorts and patient’s characteristics on salbutamol prescriptions.ResultsThere was a significant drop in salbutamol prescriptions during the Covid-19 lockdown followed by a return to pre-pandemic levels as restrictions were lifted (table 1). After adjusting for deprivation, gender and ethnicity, Cohort 2 had 28% lower odds (OR 0.72, 95% CI 0.68–0.77, p<0.001) and Cohort 3 had 18% lower odds (OR 0.82, 95% CI 0.78–0.88, p<0.001) of receiving a salbutamol prescription compared to Cohort 1. Children in Cohort 4, born during the 1st pandemic year, showed salbutamol prescription patterns similar to those in Cohort 1, suggesting a return to pre-pandemic levels.Abstract 6710 Table 1Number and proportion of children receiving salbutamol prescriptions by age for each cohortOverall, males had 43% higher odds of salbutamol prescription compared to females (OR 1.43,95% CI 1.37–1.50, p<0.001). Asian children had 7% lower odds (OR 0.93, 95% CI 0.88–0.98, p<0.05) and Black children had 9% higher odds (OR 1.09, 95% CI 1.00–1.18, p<0.05) compared to White children. Children from most deprived quintile had 16% higher odds (OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.07–1.24, p<0.001) compared to the middle quintile.ConclusionThe Covid-19 pandemic had a major impact on children’s exposure to respiratory infections, significantly affecting salbutamol prescriptions. Ongoing monitoring of these ‘Covid’ cohorts offers a unique opportunity to study the long-term impact of respiratory infections at different stages of childhood.

• Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health,BMJ Publishing Group LTD
• Subject: British Paediatric Respiratory Society / Children / Cohort analysis / COVID-19 / Infections / Pandemics / Pediatrics / Population studies / Prescriptions / Respiration / Respiratory tract infection / Salbutamol