Active clinical trials for "Asthma"

Integrated care pathways (ICP) coalesce medical and nursing work practices, unifying and directing care in line with current best practice and guidelines. We wish to examine the introduction of an ICP for children with wheeze/asthma admitted to our hospital. We will determine whether more rigid, but guided care results in faster recovery, quicker discharge with better education and fewer prescribing errors, but also determine whether staff feel alienated by the rigidity of practice, and parents perceive any benefit to the changes introduced.This will be a cluster randomised trial (random weeks) of standard or ICP care in 180 patients admitted to Sick Kids with wheeze/asthma. Parents will be asked to complete a questionnaire on admission and contacted at 10-14 days post discharge and asked to recall education provided at discharge; no other patient or parent intervention will be required.It is expected to take 40 weeks to recruit 180 patients.

This is a 16 week multicentre, multinational, randomised, double-blind, double-dummy, placebo-controlled, parallel group study to evaluate the long-term efficacy and safety of tiotropium compared to salmeterol in moderate persistent asthmatic (GINA step 3) patients homozygous for arginine at the 16th amino acid position of the beta-adrenergic receptor (ADRB2). Following an initial 4-week run-in period on salmeterol MDI patients will be randomised into the 16 week double-blind treatment period in which they receive either tiotropium once daily administered from the Respimat inhaler or salmeterol twice daily administered from the hydrofluoro-alkane Metered Dose Inhaler (MDI), or placebo twice daily. After the 16 week treatment period all patients will receive salmeterol MDI twice daily for four weeks. The patients perform daily morning and evening peak flow (PEF) and Forced Expiratory Volume in the First Second (FEV1) measurements with an electronic peak flow meter throughout the study. Daily data on asthma control and use of rescue medication are recorded using an electronic diary included in the electronic peak flow meter. On study visits the Mini-Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (Elizabeth Juniper) is administered, pulse and blood pressure and pre-dose pulmonary function testing (FEV1 and Forced Vital Capacity) are performed.

The purpose of this study is to assess the efficacy and safety of Nexium in the treatment of subjects with persistent asthma believed to have acid reflux as a contributory factor to control of their asthma.

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the superior bronchodilator efficacy of inhaled Combivent® CFC MDI vs. Albuterol HFA MDI in moderate to severe asthma patients.

The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the anti-inflammatory action and safety of Ro 27-2441 (study drug) in asthmatic patients currently taking inhaled corticosteroids. The research is being conducted at up to 40 clinical research sites in the US. Study participants will have a number of visits to a research site over a 4-month period.

The purpose of this study was evaluation the efficacy of antiepileptic drug phenytoin (diphenine) in the treatment of bronchial asthma.

The investigators will look at TPI-1020 safety and tolerability in mild to moderate asthmatic smoker subjects.

Develop a simple school-based intervention using school-based supervised asthma therapy to increase adherence to asthma medication. Implement a school-based internet monitoring system within both the school-based supervised asthma therapy and parent supervised asthma therapy groups to record asthma symptoms, peak flow meter readings, school absences, and usage of rescue medications at school. Randomly assign 250 children from inner-city school systems to either school-based supervised asthma therapy or parental supervised asthma therapy. Compare children assigned to school-based supervised asthma therapy with children assigned to parent supervised asthma therapy, in regards to time-averaged proportion having at least one exacerbation per month, rescue medication use, peak flow meter readings, asthma symptoms, school absences, and asthma self-management knowledge.

This study is designed to evaluate the single-dose effectiveness of two bronchodilator inhalers given at two dose levels in pediatric asthma patients.

Statins are the most common type of cholesterol-lowering drugs used in clinical practice. Recent research suggests that they may also have anti-inflammatory properties, in particular by inhibition of an important inflammatory cell called a T lymphocyte. Asthma is characterised by chronic inflammation in the airways, which is thought to be regulated by the activity of T lymphocytes. The investigators have found the anti-inflammatory activity of a statin drug in an experimental model of allergic asthma and they have recently shown the beneficial effects of a statin, atorvastatin, in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. These findings demonstrate the therapeutic potential of statin-sensitive pathways in allergic airways disease. The investigators plan to perform a "proof of concept" study to determine the effectiveness of statin therapy in asthma. This randomised controlled trial will test the hypothesis that statins improve asthma control of patients with chronic asthma. The study will be a 22-week randomised controlled trial comparing the effect on asthma control of oral atorvastatin with that of a matched placebo. Each treatment will be administered for 8 weeks separated by a 6-week washout period. A total of 52 allergic asthmatic patients will be recruited to ensure that 44 patients complete the study. The investigators will examine the effect of statin therapy on lung function, symptom scores, exacerbation rates, as well as on the measurement of airway inflammation in sputum and in the blood. This study will determine the benefit of atorvastatin as an add-on therapy in asthma and establish if statins might have a role in asthma management.