Active clinical trials for "Asthma"

Within the TackSHS project (H2020 project grant agreement No 681040), we will conduct a clinical research study, aiming at: i) to measure respiratory health effects when exposed to secondhand smoke (SHS) in patients with asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD); ii) to investigate exposure levels to SHS in smoking areas provided by bars, casinos, bingo halls, etc. The study will involve 60 patients (volunteers) in three European countries: Czech Republic, Ireland, and Spain, recruiting 20 patients in each participating country (10 COPD and 10 asthma patients).

Asthma is common in children and impacts their health. There are effective medications for improving asthma, but some families have difficulty using medicines on a regular basis. This study in the emergency department will improve medicine use for children 2-12 years-old with asthma by developing content for a customized, tablet-based electronic intervention. A clinical trial will then be used to compare asthma outcomes for this intervention with routine asthma care.

This project will fully develop and preliminarily validate CampAir, an empirically-based dynamic e-health intervention (based on the evidence-based ASMA) to assist adolescents with uncontrolled asthma to learn how to manage their illness and improve their asthma control. In addition to developing a highly novel product for adolescents with asthma, the research proposed for this project will address unique scientific questions. Despite the high asthma prevalence among adolescents, few interventions have specifically targeted adolescents. This study is innovative in that it is among the few to focus on adolescents, who are often overlooked by the healthcare system. This research will assess factors associated with successful implementation of CampAir, thereby providing new information regarding how e-health interventions can be effectively developed and implemented for use with adolescents with asthma.

It is recommended that patients with asthma owned a written action plan which must include the names, doses and dosing of the treatment they should take when acute respiratory symptoms occur. Current written action plans must be short to be readily used (1 page) and, therefore, cannot fit all acute situations. Moreover, they may not be available where and when required. The investigators sought that a digital action plan, available through Smartphone or tablet computer connected to the internet, could adequately provide suitable action plans according to the severity of the described exacerbation, and would be more easily available when useful. The aim of the study is to study the effect of the use of a digital action plan for asthma exacerbation, on the frequency of unscheduled medical contacts (phone calls, visits to physicians or to emergency departments, hospitalizations) in children and in adults with asthma. The investigators hypothesized that the use of the digital action plan could reduce avoidable unscheduled visits due to mild or moderate exacerbations that could successfully be managed by the patient or his/her caregivers.

The purpose of this study is to assess whether comprehensive care enhanced with new technology to optimize asthma care in the home (using both a special sensor to track inhaler use and a hand-held PIKO-1 device to assess patients' forced expiratory volume in the 1st second [FEV1]) is effective in reducing total days when medical treatment is given outside the home (in clinic, emergency department, or hospital) among children with severe asthma receiving comprehensive care.

The purpose of this study is to assess the safety and tolerability of a 6-week Inspiratory Muscle Training and cardiovascular exercise training program in children and adolescents with asthma. To also determine the efficacy of inspiratory muscle training and exercise in increasing respiratory muscle strength and endurance, and to explore relationships between fitness interventions (inspiratory muscle training and exercise), exercise tolerance, airway closure and dyspnea scores.

The investigators will study the use of a home-based spirometer (Spirobank Smart spirometer) that connects to a smartphone app (VitalFlo) in teenagers with persistent asthma to determine if clinically significant changes in lung function detected by the spirometer are associated with patient-reported asthma symptoms.

This proposed pilot study will examine the tolerability, feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects of a gentle yoga intervention "Kids 2 Be & Breathe" (K2B2; a manualized 30 minute gentle yoga and mindfulness session held one-on-one) in urban children aged 7-11 with severe asthma.

Asthma management is based on inhaled therapy, mainly on inhaled glucocorticosteroids (ICS). The efficacy of inhaled therapy depends on type of inhaler and proper inhalation skills. Additionally, in cough variant- or cough predominant asthma aerosol or dry powder of inhaler may tease upper airway and induce cough. The aim of the study is to analyze if type of inhaler (DPI vs MDI) affects the efficacy of the management in cough variant or cough predominant asthma. Twenty two patients with cough variant- or cough predominant asthma will be enrolled into the study. Initially cough severity (in VAS scale), cough related quality of life (in Leicester Cough Questionnaire, LCQ) and number of cough episodes during 2 hours will be estimated. Additionally Asthma Control Test (ACT), Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ) and spirometry will be performed. Then, budesonide or budesonide and formoterol will be used in Aerolizer / Breezhaler or pMDI in turn (each for 14 days) in the same doses. Inhalation technique will be checked and if needed corrected. After 14 days and then after 28 days, cough severity, LCQ, number of cough episodes, ACT, AQLQ, spirometry and inhalation technique will be assessed. The results will be based on differences in cough severity, cough related quality of life, asthma related quality of life, control of asthma and number of cough episodes between therapy with DPI and MDI.

Most of the asthma patients prefer complementary and integrative applications as they continue to experience asthma symptoms despite pharmacological treatment. Pranayama, one of these treatments, is a breathing-based technique and is a part of yoga, an ancient Indian science. This study was carried out as randomized controlled single blind study in order to analyze the effect of pranayama breathing technique applied to individuals suffering from asthma on asthma control, pulmonary functions and quality of life. The study comprised 50 patients in total, as 25 patients in pranayama group and 25 patients in control group. The approval of ethics committee, permissions from the institutions, and informed voluntary approval of the individuals were obtained to conduct the research. The data of the research were collected through the application of Asthma Control Test (ACT), Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ), pulmonary function test (PFT), and patient observation chart. Pranayama breathing technique was applied to pranayama group 20 minutes once a day for four weeks, and relaxation technique was applied to relaxation group similarly in addition to standard treatment. ACT, AQLQ, and PFT were evaluated twice as before and after the one month of application process. Meanwhile, the patients' PEF measurements were followed with individual PEF meter on daily basis. The value of p<0.05 was accepted statistically significant in the data analyses.