Project 460973

Asthma is a highly prevalent chronic disease in Canada. Its large burden on patients and the healthcare system is increasingly thought of as avoidable through through early intervention to control symptoms, or by preventing asthma before it develops by modifying early life risk factors. A wide range of strategies for reducing the burden of asthma at various points along the care pathway have been proposed, and there is an immediate need for a unified platform that is capable of evaluating and prioritizing these strategies in terms of their long-term epidemiological consequences and cost-effectiveness. Our overall objective is to develop a reference policy model for asthma in Canada, the Asthma Health and Environmental Evaluation Model, which will be used for rigorous and evidence-informed decision making to reduce the burden of asthma at the patient, clinician, and health system level. Through this Planning Grant, we will conceptualize the model and conduct priority setting and patient engagement to develop a set of policy objectives that will act as a roadmap for model development and evaluation. Our objectives are to build a world class team of clinical asthma experts to develop a conceptual map of the development and progression of asthma, engage with knowledge users to define policy objectives and the scope of our evaluation, and engage with patients to understand their values and experiences as they relate to prevention and early intervention in asthma. By thoroughly integrating clinical, patient and policy maker perspectives at the outset of our model development, we will ensure that our findings are acceptable and relevant to those most affected by asthma, and are capable of transforming care to reduce the burden of asthma in Canada, or avoid it altogether.