NCT06988358

Early Identification of Children With Asthma

Early Identification of Children With Asthma in Electronic Medical Records in Primary Care

• Status: Not Yet Recruiting
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 300 (estimated)
• Sponsor: University Hospital, Rouen · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 24 Months – 71 Months
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

GPs are one of the key players in the early diagnosis of chronic diseases, such as asthma in pre-school children, by detecting symptoms of illness as early as possible. Patient health data is collected on an ongoing basis in GPs' electronic medical records, but remains little exploited despite its potential. Helping GPs to identify asthma in pre-school children, based on the information in their electronic medical records, could help them to diagnose the condition early and thereby reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with it. An algorithm developed and evaluated in a primary care data warehouse should help GPs to identify children with a diagnosis of asthma at an early stage.

Detailed description

Asthma is the most common chronic disease affecting children. It is defined by repeated episodes of heterogeneous respiratory symptoms, such as wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness and cough, which vary in time and intensity, as well as variable expiratory flow limitation. Asthma in pre-school children corresponds to asthma in children under the age of 6. Diagnosis in children is particularly complex, due to the difficulty of performing respiratory tests such as spirometry, and the fact that symptoms often diminish with age. Diagnosis is based on a number of factors, including response to treatment and the absence of a differential diagnosis. Although asthma in pre-school children is frequent and sometimes serious, it is under-diagnosed and not optimally treated. GPs are among the key players in the early diagnosis of chronic diseases, by detecting symptoms of illness as early as possible. Patient health data is collected on an ongoing basis in GPs' electronic medical records, but remains little exploited despite its potential. Helping GPs to identify asthma in pre-school children, based on the information in their electronic medical records, could help them to diagnose the condition at an early stage, thereby reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with it. An algorithm, developed and evaluated in a primary care data warehouse, should help GPs to identify children with a diagnosis of asthma at an early stage.

Conditions

• Asthma in Children

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DIAGNOSTIC_TEST	Group of children identified by the algorithm as having asthma	150 medical files of children identified by the algorithm as having asthma will be randomly selected for expert appraisal.
DIAGNOSTIC_TEST	Group of children not identified by the algorithm as having asthma	150 medical files of children not identified by the algorithm as having asthma will be randomly selected for expert appraisal.

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-12-30
• Primary completion: 2026-12-31
• Completion: 2027-06-30
• First posted: 2025-05-23
• Last updated: 2025-10-02

Locations

3 sites across 1 country: France