Asthma, deprivation and the urban environment in Scotland: Evidences, challenges and directions

Background:Asthma is the most common chronic respiratory disease present in the population in the UK affecting 5.4 million people and 6% of the population in Scotland are seeking treatment at General Practices.Health disparities exist in urban and rural areas with urban deprived neighborhoods having a higher prevalence of asthma.The etiology of asthma is complex and this study will explore which factors influence asthma exposures and self management care in an urban deprived setting. Aim and objectives:This interdisciplinary research will identify the factors that play in shaping asthma prevalence ;examine the current model of patient–general practice interaction with respect to asthma to interpret its influences in patient outcomes ; analyse if and why qualitative differences exist among different stakeholders(General Practitioners,Respiratory Nurses,Support Group Workers and Health Board Officials) in understanding and promoting self management care for patients with asthma and examine whether this has implications for the overall management of Asthma in urban areas of high deprivation. Methods:Employing a mixed methods approach utilizing GIS (Geographical Information Systems) mapping to understand the character of an area ,this study will employ an exploratory case study analysis of 2 General practices located in Urban deprived wards of Scotland involving semi-structured interviews with stakeholders involved in asthma care. Practices will be selected from the Asthma Audit Dataset based on Deprivation Scores (Townsend Index) and Locality. The results of the study will be disseminated at the conference imparting policy implications and renewed approaches to asthma care and self management practices with the National Health Service.