Active clinical trials for "Asthma"

This is an observational prospective study to assess the tolerability and safety of treatment of SCIT Allergovac Poliplus polymerized in depot presentation. The study drug will be administered either by a 1 day Schedule or by a rapid Schedule (3 increasing weekly doses at initiation period till maintenance dose is reached) The study population is both: adult and child, polysensitized to at least 2 allergen sources with rhinitis or allergic rhinoconjunctivitis. Patients may also present a concomitant mild or moderate asthma. The assignment of a patient to a particular therapeutic strategy will not be decided in advanced by a trial protocol but will be determined by routine clinical practice. The decision of the investigator to prescribe a particular treatment will be clearly dissociated from the decision to include the patient in the study. The patients will not suffer any intervention, whether diagnostic or monitoring, other than the usual in clinical practice.

Asthmatic children age 3-17 from low income households in King County are randomly assigned into a community health worker (CHW) intervention group and a control group. The intervention is in-home education and support related to asthma self-management. The main outcome measures are asthma symptom-free days, caretaker's asthma-related quality of life score, and health care utilization for asthma measured at baseline and 12 months after baseline enrollment.

The main objective of the trial is to explore if any of the biomarkers assessed are sensitively linked to the asthma phenotypes. This would potentially alone or in addition to other clinical or biofluid markers indicate if and how asthma endotypes are linked to phenotype such as eosinophilic, neutrophilic, or paucigranulocytic phenotypes. Further exploratory markers will be analysed for better understanding of physiological levels of proteins and markers playing a role in regard to disease characterization in asthma. As a basis for further development of a biomarker for asthma, The sponsor plans to conduct this exploratory biomarker trial to determine levels and reference ranges of biomarkers potentially associated with asthma phenotypes. The trial aims at generating a panel of serum biomarkers that can be evaluated in subsequent interventional studies. The longitudinal design will be used to ascertain stability and test-retest reliability.

Near fatal asthma exacerbations are one of the most common causes of critical illness in children, accounting for approximately ten thousand intensive care unit (ICU) admissions per year in the United States. Even children with intermittent or mild baseline asthma can develop these severe exacerbations; however, there are few studies evaluating the risk factors associated with the development of near fatal asthma exacerbations in children. Inhaled β2-adrenergic receptor (ADRβ2) agonist therapy is the foundation of therapy for acute asthma and genetic variations of this receptor have been shown to affect response to ADRβ2 agonist therapy in this population. The investigators hypothesis is that a child's ADRβ2 genotype is associated with the development of a near fatal asthma exacerbation.

The purpose of this study is to characterise inspiratory flow parameters across 2 Easyhaler® (EH) inhaler versions and Diskus® inhaler in patients with asthma (including children, adults, and the elderly) and in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Despite the clear and often stated need, a formal transition program does not exist for asthma patients as they move from pediatric to adult care in Western Canada. This population is not having their health care needs met. The investigators proposed study would evaluate a well structured transition program designed to facilitate continuity of care for this at risk patient population. Primary hypothesis: A pediatric-to-adult asthma transition program will improve the asthma-specific quality of life of young asthma patients in the Calgary area over a 1 year period. Secondary hypothesis: A pediatric-to-adult asthma transition program will improve asthma control, decrease asthma exacerbations, and reduce health care utilization in young asthma patients in the Calgary area over a 1 year period.

There have been a number of studies which attribute causality between reflux disease and asthma. In addition, clinicians typically treat chronic asthmatics with high dose acid suppressing medications (e.g. lansoprazole). However, clinical trials only recently have shed some light on this dilemma, with recent studies suggesting that the association is not as clear. This "retrospective" analysis of a prospective study which treated mod-severe asthmatics with lansoprazole or placebo will enter the collected raw data into a database, then perform statistical analyses to determine if children with asthma treated with acid suppression improved their asthma compared to those receiving placebo.

The prevalence of asthma and allergic diseases is increasing worldwide. Infections and vaccinations in childhood may have an impact on the subsequent development of asthma and allergy. In Guinea-Bissau, the investigators previously found that Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine was associated with reduction in atopy. Since then the investigators have conducted a randomised trial of BCG vaccine given at birth to low birth-weight infants. The present study aims to follow up children enrolled in the BCG randomised trial to assess for asthma and allergy later in childhood. Based on previous observations, the investigators expect children allocated to receive BCG at birth will have a reduction in allergy profile when compared to children who did not receive BCG at birth.

This study will compare the absolute and relative effectiveness of asthma management in patients on inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) maintenance therapy as either extra-fine-particle or larger-particle formulation beclomethasone dipropionate (BDP) via metered-dose inhalers (MDIs) using the propellant hydrofluoroalkane propellant (HFA-BDP), namely Qvar® MDI compared with Clenil® MDI.

BDNF has been linked to the pathogenesis of airway hyperresponsiveness in asthma. In this trial, the impact of a treatment with salmeterol and salmeterol / fluticasone on BDNF concentrations will be assessed in patients with asthma. The investigators hypothesize that salmeterol impacts on BDNF concentrations in patients with asthma.