AIRWEIGHS: Investigating Obesity as a Susceptibility Factor for Air Pollution in Childhood Asthma...
AsthmaBackground: Asthma and obesity are public health crises that have concurrently risen over the past decades, affecting millions of children in the United States and disproportionately affecting low-income minority children in urban areas. The same children at highest risk for asthma and obesity also have greater exposure to indoor and outdoor pollution. Emerging evidence suggests that obesity may confer increased susceptibility to health effects of air pollution. Methods: Aiming to provide causal-level evidence of these observational findings, we propose a home intervention study to 1) test whether targeted reductions of indoor Particulate Matter (PM) concentrations improve the respiratory health of overweight inner-city children with asthma more than that of lean inner-city children with asthma and 2) investigate mediators of susceptibility to indoor PM among overweight versus lean children with asthma. We will accomplish these aims using a 1:1 randomized controlled trial of 200 children with persistent asthma (half normal weight, half overweight) living in Baltimore City. Participants will be randomized to receive either two active air purifiers containing high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters or two sham air purifiers with their filters removed. Implications: If the aforementioned observational findings are confirmed, implications will be directly relevant to the over 170 million children around the world now estimated to be overweight or obese.
STRONGer Together: A Small Group Intervention for Children With Asthma and Anxiety/Depression
Childhood AsthmaChildhood Anxiety1 moreThe proposed study is a one group pilot to assess the feasibility and acceptability of an 8-session intervention (STRONGer Together) for children between 8 - 12 years of age with asthma and anxiety/depressive symptoms.
Letters in Addition to Emailed Audit and Feedback in Refining Asthma Treatment in Primary Care
AsthmaPublic Health England have estimated that 36,000 excess deaths occur each year due to UK air pollution. Respiratory inhalers produce 3% of NHS greenhouse gas production. The two main inhaler device categories are pressurised Metered Dose Inhalers (pMDIs) and Dry Powder Inhalers (DPIs). The chemical propellant in pMDIs is the majority cause of inhaler carbon footprint, with pMDIs having an 18 times higher carbon footprint than DPIs. The rates of asthma in the UK population are amongst the highest worldwide and its mortality rate remains amongst the worst in Europe. A pre-existing Audit and Feedback (A&F) quality improvement project (QIP) is being undertaken by NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) with the aim of improving asthma outcomes and reducing the environmental impact of inhalers in primary care. The A&F being utilised here has been validated locally in two peer reviewed studies and is now standard practice in the region. There is convincing evidence that A&F has a positive effect on enacting behaviour change, especially where behaviour change is related to prescribing with low baseline compliance with guidelines. However, the evidence base is poor on which design features of A&F produce enhanced results. There is supporting evidence from local studies suggesting that posted paper A&F may be more effective at producing behaviour change than emailed copies of A&F alone. This study seeks to randomise the primary care practices within the pre-arranged QIP, to receive either a paper and emailed A&F report bimonthly for the duration of the study period, or to receive an emailed A&F report alone. The primary outcome of the study would be a comparison of the number of 'low-global warming potential' inhalers prescribed as a percentage of the total prescribed inhalers from each intervention group.
The Effect of Mobile Application Game Training Designed for Children
Asthma in ChildrenLife Style1 moreThe aim of this research is to examine the effect of mobile application game training designed for children aged 8-16 years on asthma management and quality of life. The population of the study will be children in the 8-12 age group who applied to the Mersin Pediatric Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Specialist's clinic, and the sample will consist of 78 children with asthma who meet the criteria for inclusion in the research. This age group has problems in solving abstract problems, it is necessary to embody it in order to facilitate the understanding of the disease process. Therefore, it is important to embody the training given in the increase of self-management related to the disease process of this age group. While determining the sample size of the study, Arıkan-Ayyıldız et al. (2016) based on the scientific study named "Efficacy of asthma education program on asthma control in children with uncontrolled asthma". In the Arıkan-Ayyıldız study, it was reported that the total mean score of "ACT" (Asthma Control Test-Asthma Control Test) was 13.8±3.4 in the experimental group and 15.6±3.2 in the control group. As a result of the Power analysis (G*Power 3.1.9.2) made according to these data; effect size = 0.78, with 95% confidence interval, 95% power, it was calculated that a total of 72 children with asthma, at least 36 in each group, should be included. Considering that there may be dropout and confounders during the research process, the number of groups was increased by 10%. The sample of the research; was a total of 78 children, including 39 children in each intervention group. In collecting research data; the Child and Parent Information Form, Inhaler Usage Skills Evaluation Form, Asthma Symptom and Treatment Need Scoring, DISABKIDS Asthma Scale will be used. A statistical package program (SPSS 20) will be used in the analysis of the research data. The statistical significance level was determined as 0.05. Kolmogorov-Smirnov will be used in the normality analysis of dependent variables. Chi-square and mean-to-means comparison tests will be used to determine the similarity of the groups. Appropriate parametric or non-parametric tests will be used according to the distribution's normality in comparing the means between groups and within groups.
Telehealth Education for Asthma Connecting Hospital and Home
Asthma in ChildrenThe goal of this study is to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a technology-enhanced educational intervention for caregivers and children who are hospitalized due to asthma. We will conduct a pilot RCT with 60 children (5-13 yrs) hospitalized with asthma at the Golisano Children's Hospital in Rochester, NY. After baseline assessment, subjects will be randomized to either: 1) the Telehealth Education for Asthma Connecting Hospital and Home (TEACHH) intervention, which includes inpatient child/caregiver education using pictorial materials, color/shape labels for home medications (green star=controller, yellow/red circles=rescue), and a pair of in-home, smartphone-based telehealth visits after discharge to reinforce effective home management; or, 2) the standard care (SC) condition, which features standard inpatient education and routine outpatient follow-up. Patients in TEACHH will also receive all SC measures. All caregivers will complete blinded telephone follow-up assessments at 2, 4, and 6 months after discharge; children will be asked medication questions at baseline and 6 months. We will describe the feasibility and acceptability of implementing the TEACHH intervention by reviewing process measure data collected throughout the study; assess the preliminary efficacy of TEACHH in improving key clinical outcomes, including asthma-related ACU at 7 days, 30 days, and 6 months (per electronic health record documentation) and symptom-free days at each follow-up (reported by caregivers); and assess secondary clinical and functional outcomes including asthma-related quality of life, missed school or work due to asthma, caregiver and child medication knowledge, and reported adherence. We will also invite all caregivers to complete a semi-structured qualitative interview (1 month after baseline for the TEACHH group, 6 months after baseline for the SC group). Findings from this work will establish a strong foundation for a full-scale trial, and guide future efforts to deliver guideline-based asthma care to underserved children and families at the greatest risk for preventable morbidity.
Promoting Asthma Guidelines and Management Through Technology-Based Intervention and Care Coordination...
Asthma ChildhoodThe overall goal of this research study is to test the effectiveness of a multifaceted and multi-level prompting intervention in a real world urban primary care office setting on improving provider-delivered guideline-based asthma care and reducing asthma morbidity among urban children with persistent or uncontrolled asthma.
Two Inhalation Methods Using a Pressurized Metered Dose Inhaler With Valved Holding Chamber to Assess...
Bronchial AsthmaBronchial asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder characterized by recurrent reversible episodes of breathlessness, wheezing, chest tightness and/ or cough. The prevalence of asthma in India is about 2%, and asthma is responsible for significant morbidity. A diagnosis of asthma is made in the presence of clinical symptoms with or without reversibility on spirometry assessment.1 Treatment comprises of inhaled medications that are used either as controller medication or a reliever medications. In a recent study involving asthmatic children, single maximal inhalation with breath hold was not found to be superior to tidal breathing for improvement in peak expiratory flow rates. The authors hypothesized that both the techniques would improve FEV1 similarly.
Application of Telehealth Technology in Asthma Management
Asthma ExacerbationQuality of Life1 moreBackground: While effective treatments are available, asthma control is sub-optimal for many asthma patients. To help patients self-manage their asthma symptoms, provision of an asthma action plan (AAP) in written format (wAAP), with instructions on managing worsening asthma symptoms is recommended, as a standard of care; however, only about half of patients correctly adhere to their AAP. Canadian Asthma Text Messaging Study (CANATEXTS) is a Telehealth (TH) intervention facilitating access to an electronic AAP (eAAP) via a mobile device. In a feasibility study to assess the safety and efficacy of CANATEXTS, an 18% reduction in the relative risk of exacerbation was observed among the intervention group compared to control group. This study will assess the effectiveness of CANATEXTS on asthma outcomes in a Canada-wide study. Methods: This is a superiority a 2-arm, multi-site randomized control trial (RCT). This study aims to determine if CANATEXTS reduces asthma exacerbation over a 12-month period, improves asthma control, quality of life (QoL) and medication adherence, and is cost-effective. The intervention includes access to an electronic asthma action plan (eAAP) on patients' mobile devices, disease-related education, and weekly reminders via a Short messaging system (SMS) interface. The study will include 620 adult participants with asthma recruited from 14 respiratory clinics across Canada. Participants will be randomly assigned to either Intervention group (eAAP) or Control groups (wAAP). All outcomes of interest will be assessed during three in-person assessments (baseline, 6-month, and 12-month) and two telephone follow-ups (3-month and 9-month). Data will be analyzed with a linear mixed-effects model across all time points. Discussion: TH has the potential to improve adult individuals with asthma's engagement in self-management practices. Our feasibility study showed TH could yield a reduction in asthma exacerbation. If the proposed TH intervention is found to be effective for asthma management in a nation-wide trial, it will generate evidence to support integration of TH in asthma self-management. This study will also provide important information on the cost-effectiveness of CANATEXTS when compared to standard asthma care.
Manual Therapy in Patients With Asthma
AsthmaPhysical therapists have traditionally included various forms of manual therapy among the therapeutic approaches to respiratory conditions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of diaphragmatic stretching technique on pulmonary ventilation, rig bage excursion and spirometric values in patients diagnosed with asthma.
An Asthma Collaboration to Reduce Childhood Asthma Disparities on the Navajo Nation
Asthma in ChildrenNational Jewish Health and The University of Arizona worked with Navajo Nation organizations to develop this program to improve the health of children with asthma. The Navajo Community Asthma Program will have two main parts. One will train doctors and health care professionals to improve the diagnosis and treatment of asthma. The second part will work with area schools to provide education to school nurses, teachers, and children to help them better understand asthma. The project also works with families to help them know how to best take care of their child's asthma. A major project aim is to make sure that doctors, teachers, and families work together to manage asthma.