Presented by: Dhenuka K. Radhakrishnan, MD, FRCP(C), Paediatric Respirologist, The Hospital for Sick Children

Dhenuka Radhakrishnan is a MSc Clinical Epidemiology candidate in the department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. She completed her clinical training as a paediatric respirologist at The Hospital for Sick Children and now pursues additional research training in the field of paediatric asthma epidemiology. 

During her clinical training, Dhenuka was also involved in studies of atypical mycobacterial prevalence in the sputum of children with cystic fibrosis and exhaled nitric oxide measurements in children with sickle cell disease and primary ciliary dyskinesia. She holds a SickKids Restracomp Fellowship award as well as an Ontario Thoracic Society Graduate Studentship.

Step 2 - Thesis Proposal Presentation:
Examining trends in the incidence of asthma in children in Ontario

Although many reports suggest that the prevalence of asthma in children continues to increase globally, industrialized countries have seen stabilization and even a reduction in this trend. Improved asthma management might explain a reduction in asthma severity; however, the reduction seen in mild asthma symptoms suggests that the incidence of new asthma cases may actually be decreasing. This study aims to use health administrative data to examine multiple cohorts of children born in different years and compare asthma incidence rates as well as trends in asthma severity and age of onset. The influence of socioeconomic status and ethnicity on the changing prevalence, age of onset and severity of asthma will also be examined. The use of multiple consecutive birth cohorts is a novel approach to examining trends in asthma incidence and severity and will allow identification of a “birth cohort effect” which could theoretically narrow the search for an etiological explanation for asthma.

Supervisor: Dr. T. To
Committee: Dr. S. Dell, Dr. A. Guttmann

Moderator: Dr. Teresa To. A light lunch will be provided.

This event is an accredited group learning activity as defined by the Maintenance of Certification Program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.