2025 Canadian Pediatric Severe Asthma Stakeholders’ Forum proceedings

RATIONALE Severe asthma affects approximately 5% of children with asthma, but accounts for 50% of direct asthma costs. Several knowledge gaps remain in the diagnosis and management of pediatric severe asthma and few evidence-based studies address these needs. Thus, concerted efforts are needed to identify research priorities, conduct collaborative studies and harmonize clinical care.OBJECTIVES In April 2025, members of the Canadian Pediatric Severe Asthma Research Network and other stakeholders came together at Pediatric Severe Asthma Stakeholders’ Forum in Quebec, Canada, to discuss and identify research topics in pediatric severe asthma.METHODS The Forum comprised the presentation of results from a patient-/caregiver-completed survey on their research priorities, a testimony from a patient and parent-partner and presentations and discussions around three themes: diagnosis and classification, assessment and monitoring and management.MAIN RESULTS Several knowledge gaps and related research priorities were identified, including the need for a definition of severe asthma in preschoolers, a better understanding of the true severe asthma endotypes, a pediatric definition of biologics response and severe asthma remission, harmonization of transition care and more data to guide the choice of biologics and predict efficacy in children. Building a hybrid clinical and research database with harmonized variables and the use of novel tools (eg, lung imaging) in collaborative research endeavors could be used to address these knowledge gaps.CONCLUSIONS This Forum provided an opportunity for stakeholders to discuss and identify priorities in pediatric severe asthma research in Canada, providing a springboard for collaborative, pan-Canadian research in this field.