The Swedish National Airway Register
The Swedish National Airway Register (SNAR) was initiated in 2013 as a result of merging two existing registers: the National COPD Register (RiksKOL) and the National Asthma Register (NAR). The quality register is comprehensive, including data from patients with asthma (both children, adolescents and adults) and COPD from primary, secondary and tertiary care as well as hospitalized COPD patients. In 2015, the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare published new national guidelines for care and treatment of patients with asthma and COPD. At that time, the variables in SNAR were modified to harmonize with these recommendations, which presents a unique opportunity to use data from SNAR to evaluate the effect of this national effort.
Following a physician diagnosis of asthma and/or COPD, the registrations are directly transferred from electronic medical records or entered manually by healthcare professionals to a web-based platform. The registrations include data about the current level of health care (primary, secondary, tertiary or inpatient care), comorbidities, diagnostic investigations (e.g. spirometry, blood sample, skin prick test) and prescribed treatment (both pharmacological and non-pharmacological).
In 2019, SNAR has cumulatively registered almost 300 000 individuals and provides a unique insight into the care of patients with asthma and COPD in Sweden. The register is important for patients, caregivers, authorities, politicians and researchers to evaluate the impact of and adherence to local, national and international guidelines.