Improving Drug Benefits for Children with Asthma: Results of a Multi-stakeholder Workshop to Build a Research Agenda.

Asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease, and evidence suggests that children underutilize inhaled corticosteroid ("controller") medications. Drug plans that provide benefits to children vary widely across Canada, and families may face high out-of-pocket costs. As an initial step in a knowledge exchange process aimed at motivating relevant research, a workshop was convened in March 2007 with diverse stakeholders to explore potential research topics within the theme of improving drug benefits for Canadian children with asthma. Six key challenges for further investigation were identified: (1) changing the perception of asthma from an episodic to a chronic disease, (2) improving diagnosis and management, (3) increasing intersectoral communication, (4) improving the quality of data, (5) developing better drug benefit plans and (6) practising more effective advocacy.