After joining the European Lung Foundation asthma Patient Advisory Group, I joined an ongoing research study with the European Respiratory Society and SHARP on a severe asthma and comorbidities study.
Being a patient representative and using our voice to shape research is vital. Working alongside medical professionals has been eye opening as we are both learning from each other.
As part of this study, our first paper has been published!
Multimorbidity phenotypes and associated characteristics in severe asthma: an observational study of European severe asthma registries - The Lancet Regional Health – Europe
Following on from our initial paper, we gathered the data from the physicians surveys.
As a patient who was not aware of severe asthma specialists and clinics, it was interesting to learn about how different clinics operate around Europe and who deals with severe asthma and multimorbidity.
'We sought to identify differences in approaches to multimorbidity management in SA, variability in access to multidisciplinary team (MDT) resources, and whether physician perspectives on multimorbidity differ between SA specialists and general respiratory physicians.'