A large multi-center severe asthma registry has been established in Singapore.
The first Severe Asthma Registry in Singapore (SSAR) was established by a research network that includes Singapore Nanyang Technological University, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine and three SingHealth affiliated hospitals: General Hospital Changi, Singapore General Hospital, and Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
According to the press release, SSAR seeks to improve understanding of severe asthma, gather evidence on treatment efficacy and safety, and identify predictors of treatment success. So far, it has collected data from 139 severe asthma patients with the goal of enrolling 200 more patients by the end of the year. It collected anonymized data, including demographics, medical history, exacerbation history, treatment plan, and biomarkers such as spirometry test results, complete blood count, and other biomarkers. other clinical parameters.
It is said that factual evidence gathered from this registry could potentially inform policy decision making and guideline implementation.
SSAR will be administered by the Academic Respiratory Initiative for Lung Health (TARIPH), a research network led by NTU’s LKCMedicine. The organization will mine SSAR data to address research questions surrounding severe asthma, particularly about treatment options. It will also focus research on identifying predictors of treatment success, outcomes of individualized therapies, the use of biologics for treatment, and studying underserved severe asthma. diagnosis in primary care.
Additionally, SSAR has been linked to the International Severe Asthma Registry (ISAR), a global collaboration of researchers from 26 countries. It has national registries that share their data to study how severe asthma affects patients differently in different geographic populations. By becoming part of ISAR, TARIPH can access data from other countries to compare patient characteristics and responses to treatment in Singapore with patients abroad.
WHY IT IMPORTANT
In Singapore, one in five children and at least 5% of the population have asthma with severe cases affecting up to one in five people with asthma. In general, this condition contributes $1.5 billion economic burden for the country.
As patients with severe asthma have a higher treatment burden and have different clinical trajectories, “[t]Establishing SSAR will not only allow us to find better ways to deliver more personalized, targeted and effective treatment plans to patients, but we will also better understand the burden of treatment. severity of severe asthma in Singapore and offer interventions to address problems at the systemic level,” said Associate Professor Mariko Koh, senior consultant in the Department of Respiratory and Health Care Important of SGH, who also chaired the SSAR working group in TARIPH.
“The [SSAR] will go a long way towards identifying high-risk asthmatics and providing us with more bench-to-bed insights in improving the care and management of these patients. this individual,” adds Assoc.
Through SSAR, researchers will also be able to compare the data of Asian patients with non-Asian patients from other countries. According to Assoc. Professor Sanjay H. Chotirmall, co-chair of TARIPH and deputy chair of LKCMedicine, the current guidelines for the treatment of severe asthma are drawn from the evidence mostly from non-Asian patients.
“There is emerging evidence from a wide range of lung diseases that Asian and non-Asian patients respond differently to treatment and that lung diseases present differently,” he said. added that this could be due to genetic differences, environmental exposure, health seeking. behaviors and practices in the health system.
Meanwhile, Prof. Professor Chotirmall also noted the benefits of participating in ISAR, saying that “being part of an international registry provides us with rich data to improve outcomes for Singaporeans with severe asthma.” .
“With data from 12,772 patients from 26 countries, ISAR has delivered findings and practical insights that clinical trials have missed. By joining ISAR, SSAR is entering into a dual relationship. win-win, where it can complement and benefit from ISAR research,” Prof. David Price, Director of the Institute for Observational and Pragmatic Research in Singapore, an institute that also supports ISAR.
TREND TO BIGGER WOMAN
The latest data science initiatives in Asia-Pacific include a long-term study in New Zealand that is tracking anonymized data from more than 550,000 people to identify impact of multiple diseases on the risk of hospitalization or death from cardiovascular diseases.
Another project is building a enroll elderly Australians to form a panorama of the aging pathway to understand emerging issues and research the major and still unknown impacts of aged care in the region. residential.
ON PROFILE
“As our public hospitals become more involved in improving the health of Singaporeans, the new insights gained from this partnership will be useful in the management of patients with severe asthma in This common disease registry data will help enhance discovery and personalize effective asthma treatments to improve the quality of life of people with severe asthma”, Augustine Tee , Vice Chairman of CGH Medical Council, commented.
