Active clinical trials for "Asthma"

What are the capacity and training needs in general practice to implement routine spirometry and eNO testing in children aged 5-16 years? Asthma is the commonest long-term disease of childhood in the United Kingdom (UK). Under-diagnosis and under-treatment of childhood asthma in general practice (GP) have been reported from several European countries including the UK. This can result in poor symptom control and increased risk of asthma related deaths. It has been suggested that both under- and over- diagnosis of childhood asthma in general practice could be improved by routinely using objective lung function testing for diagnosis and monitoring. The proposed objective lung function tests (spirometry and exhaled nitric oxide measurements - eNO) are already used routinely in UK hospitals, but are not usually available in general practice where most children are cared for. Why is it important? - Availability of these tests will help health professionals in general practice to look after children with asthma better, and hopefully improve asthma control. What will this study achieve? - Though it is believed that providing spirometry and eNO in general practice would be beneficial, there is little data on how this can be achieved. This study will employ both qualitative and quantitative measures in order to evaluate the resources required to implement routine spirometry and eNO testing for children in primary care; and to investigate the impact this would have on diagnosis in children with suspected asthma. How? - The investigators will work with general practices in and around Leicestershire, UK. Firstly, to identify what the barriers are to implementing these tests, and secondly to train the practices to perform and interpret spirometry and eNO independently in children. Children with suspected or previously diagnosed asthma will be invited for review and lung function testing. The investigators will record the time it takes to train general practices to perform and interpret spirometry and eNO independently, and the additional clinic capacity required to provide these tests.

The purpose of this study is to characterize adult subjects regarding their history of allergy and asthma, clinical manifestations of asthma, and exposures and conditions that may influence asthma severity and control. Assessments include baseline medical history, lung function tests, questionnaires, and collection of specimens for phenotypic characterization.

Objective: Identify modifiable factors that may affect asthma control and the use of emergency room to define customized interventions for the management of asthma prior to emergency room. Emergency department attendance is always a sign of poor balance or control of asthma. In spite of a decrease in the number of deaths that has been halved in 20 years and hospitalization due to asthmatic disease, the use of emergency center for this disease has not decreased. We now know that the passage through emergencies and hospitalization for aggravation of asthma is in itself a factor of mortality. Acting on the determinants of poor balance or control of asthma is essential to further reduce the mortality and morbidity of asthma.

Asthma is a chronic disease. Prevalence of asthma in 2014 among Spanish population was 5%, of which 10% were diagnosed with severe asthma. According to Spanish National Guideline for the Management of Asthma (GEMA) 4.1 criteria, asthma can be classified according to its severity (intermittent, mild persistent, moderate persistent or severe persistent) or level of asthma control (controlled, partly controlled or uncontrolled). This Guideline describes that only 1 in 10 subjects with severe asthma is well controlled, meaning that there is a 90% prevalence of non-controlled severe asthma. This prospective, non-interventional, observational, multicenter and case-control study aims to assess the prevalence of severe asthma in Spanish Hospitals. The study will describe the characteristics of severe versus non-severe asthmatic subjects, assess their eligibility to receive biological treatments approved for this disease, resource consumption and evaluate the most prevalent phenotypes of severe asthma in Spain. Enrolled subjects will be divided into two cohorts, based on asthma severity according to the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) and the International European Respiratory Society (ERS)/American Thoracic Society (ATS) Guidelines. Cohort A: subjects diagnosed of severe asthma and Cohort B: subjects with non-severe asthma. Approximately 320 severe asthmatic subjects and 160 non-severe asthmatic subjects will be enrolled in the study. A software of big data will be used to do a sub study for comparing the results obtained through this software tool against results obtained through Gold standard classical methods used in this prospective observational study (the descriptive assessment of severe asthma prevalence and the prospective evolution of subjects).

The introduction of inhaled medication as the primary treatment for asthma has led to substantial improvements in asthma control [1, 2]. However, uncontrolled asthma is still common and represents a considerable burden to patients and society [3, 4]. An important reason for poor asthma control and consequently, increased healthcare expenditure is suboptimal adherence to the prescribed regimen [5-7]. Real-world market research study in hospitals across China reported that physicians perceived that only 23% of patients were fully compliant with their medication regime (77% non-adherent), compared to 55% in the European Union and 63% in the US [AZ internal document]. The physician reported rate of full adherence was lower than the patient-reported rate (38%). Poor patient adherence was the challenge most frequently mentioned (by 41% of physicians) when treating an asthma.[8] However There is some evidence on the drivers of patient behaviour around low adherence but more depth research is needed There is little evidence on variation of determinants of asthma inhaled treatment across different age of group Our research aims to address above data gap Mean while this research can guide the development of new module on Red Scarf patient education program.

Asthma is a growing problem, especially in children. It causes frequent wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and cough. A cold that is caused by a virus (viral cold) can sometimes make asthma symptoms worse. This study will help investigators learn about the way colds are related to asthma attacks among children who need higher amounts of medications to control their asthma. Investigators want to learn why viral colds sometimes cause asthma attacks and other times do not by studying the immune system response in samples taken from the nose and blood.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether parameters of the pulmonary function tests and the bronchial hyperresponsiveness to methacholine are predictors of asthma exacerbations.

To investigate how a switch from fixed combination treatment (ICS and LABA) to other treatments influence asthma or COPD treatment failure

The objective of this study is to compare healthcare utilization and costs in Medicare-eligible asthma patients (aged >65) who receive fluticasone propionate/salmeterol xinafoate combination or inhaled corticosteroids in a typical clinical practice using a retrospective observational cohort study design of large managed care database. Outcomes on interest include asthma related severe exacerbations defined as asthma related emergency department visits, hospitalizations or combined emergency department/hospitalization. Other outcomes of interest include use of albuterol, oral corticosteroids and overall asthma related costs. Outcomes of interest will be compared between the two treatment cohorts (fluticasone propionate/salmeterol xinafoate combination or inhaled corticosteroids). Dichotomous outcomes (emergency visits, hospitalizations etc) will be compared using Cox regression hazards analysis assessing time to first event for each asthma related endpoint adjusting for differences in baseline demographics such as age, gender, previous asthma medication use, co morbidities, costs, and plan demographics. Total asthma related costs will also be compared using generalized linear models adjusting for baseline differences.

Evaluation of the frequency of limitation of activity, depending on gender and age-group, in patients with persistent asthma consulting a general practitioner