Asthma in Young Adults
Around 1.1 million children (one in eleven) currently receive asthma treatment in the UK, making it the most common long-term medical condition among this age group.1
In 2023, Asthma and Lung UK published that out of 15 countries in Europe, including Spain and France, the UK has the worst death rate for asthma in children and young people aged between 10 and 24, with far too many children ending up in hospital.2
Many of these children will continue to have asthma into later life and will experience the transition into adult care services, therefore it is important that both the advice of paediatricians and adult care providers are aligned to support children and young people (CYP) being able to manage their condition.
Currently, only 79/129 CYPA services (61.2%) and 55/136 adult services (40.4%) reported having at least one good practice element of formal transition for CYP moving to adult services.3
The NHS recommends that Integrated Care Systems should have paediatric asthma network with an identified clinical lead who interfaces with place-based systems, secondary care, pharmacy, schools, community and severe asthma services.4 This will support how this network integrates with adult asthma services.
In this presentation, Dr Graham Heyes outlines on the different types of patients who he interacts with as part of the asthma transition services at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, including those with:
- Fewer symptoms, generally well controlled
- Poorly controlled symptoms, with poor compliance
- Poorly controlled with good adherence
He discusses some of the issues these patients face and how clinicians can seek to address these issues.
Please also consider watching the on-demand video ‘Asthma in Youth People & Encouraging ‘Adherence” by Joanne Hamilton, which outlines how clinicians can have an integrated, interactive approach when engaging with young people. This video also includes some first-hand perspectives from two asthma patients.
References
1. Youth People’s Health Partnership. Children, young people and families’ experiences of chronic asthma management and care. https://ayph.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/CYP-Families-Experiences-of-Asthma-Management-Engagement-Report.pdf
2. Ashma and Lung UK. The number of children ending up in hospital with life-threatening asthma attacks more than doubles. https://www.asthmaandlung.org.uk/media/press-releases/number-children-ending-hospital-life-threatening-asthma-attacks-more-doubles
3. NRAP. Resourcing and organisation of asthma and COPD care in hospitals, and PR services in England and Wales. https://www.nrap.org.uk/NRAP/welcome.nsf/0/D7FB0E1DC8D1CAD780258BD5002FBCC7/$file/NRAP_
Organisational_Audit_Summary_Report_2024.pdf
4. NHS. National Bundle of Care for Children and Young People with Asthma: Phase one. Sept 2021. https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/B0606-National-bundle-of-care-for-children-and-young-people-with-asthma-phase-one-September-2021.pdf
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Dr Graham Heyes
Consultant in Respiratory Medicine and Clinical Lead for Asthma