Prospective study of factors associated with asthma attack recurrence (ATTACK) in children from three Ecuadorian cities during COVID-19: a study protocol.

Introduction: Asthma is a growing health problem in children in marginalised urban settings in low-income and middle-income countries. Asthma attacks are an important cause of emergency care attendance and long-term morbidity. We designed a prospective study, the Asthma Attacks study, to identify factors associated with recurrence of asthma attacks (or exacerbations) among children and adolescents attending emergency care in three Ecuadorian cities.

Deaths in people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities from both COVID-19 and non-COVID causes in the first weeks of the pandemic in London: a hospital case note review.

Objective: To undertake a case review of deaths in a 6-week period during the COVID-19 pandemic commencing with the first death in the hospital from COVID-19 on 12th of March 2020 and contrast this with the same period in 2019.

Setting: A large London teaching hospital.

Participants: Three groups were compared: group 1-COVID-19-associated deaths in the 6-week period (n=243), group 2-non-COVID deaths in the same period (n=136) and group 3-all deaths in a comparison period of the same 6 weeks in 2019 (n=194).

Lack of uniformity in the investigation and management of suspected β-lactam allergy in children.

Background: Beta-lactam allergy is commonly suspected in childhood with health implications for the individual and wider public. Diagnostic modalities include skin prick tests (SPT), specific immunoglobulin-E (sp-IgE) tests, intradermal tests (IDT) and drug provocation challenges (DPC). The aim of this research was to establish whether variation exists around the world in the investigation and management of beta-lactam allergy.