Claim-based Analyses of Inhaled Corticosteroid Refill Rates for Asthma: Who's Kidding Whom?

摘要

Asthma is one of the most common chronic conditions in pediatrics. The economic impact of asthma care in the healthcare system is widespread, with disparities in outcomes leading to higher burden in socio-economically disadvantaged populations (1). Despite the existence of national asthma care guidelines for over a decade (2), adherence to daily asthma controller medications remains low (3), and variation in provider practice patterns remain prevalent (4), particularly for children with milder disease. For all of those reasons, research using large population-based administrative databases is essential to identifying key areas for improvements in asthma management strategies. In this issue of Annals ATS, Sloan and colleagues (pp. 131-134) employ a health services research approach to evaluate corticosteroid prescription fill rates across a 5-year period among children enrolled in Tennessee Medicaid (5).