Management of Asthma in School-age Children on Therapy

Summary

Asthma affects 1 in 8 children in the UK. Up to half of these are treated with preventative medicine in the form of low-dose steroids using an inhaler. The National Asthma Treatment Guidelines recommend when this treatment is not working other treatments are started. Studies to support this have taken place in adults but not with children. If patients are instructed how to use inhalers and are given information about asthma, they can control their disease much better. The first part of this study, lasting 4 weeks, will make sure the children and their families understand how to use their inhaler. All children will be given the same steroid inhaler to use and after 4 weeks those still with symptoms will enter the study proper which lasts for 48 weeks. During this part of the study the children will be given one of three treatments. These are:- a steroid inhaler + a dummy tablet, an inhaler containing a steroid and a long-acting reliever + a dummy tablet or a steroid inhaler + an active tablet. In this way the patient, the family and the researchers will not know which of the three treatments the child is taking until the code is broken at the end of the study.

What matters to children is how they feel, are they able to run around and play with friends and are they well enough to go to school. The investigators will assess which of the above treatments best allow these to happen by asking the parents and children to fill in questionnaires on 4 occasions during the study. The investigators will also see which treatment best prevents the need for short courses of steroids tablets during the study. These are commonly given when asthma symptoms worsen.

Most children will be started in the study through their general practitioner clinic. It will take one year to enroll all 900 children. Once enrolled the children will be followed-up in hospital centres. Much of the funding will be required to recruit and follow-up the children, train everyone to the same standard and develop and administer the questionnaires and health economic assessments. Asthma care is an expensive. The investigators will look at the costs and assess which treatment offers most benefit. The team has experience and ability in this field and will ensure the results are well publicised. Any child can withdraw from the study at any time.

Conditions

• Asthma

Interventions

DRUG

inhaled fluticasone propionate

100 micrograms

DRUG

salmeterol

50 m

DRUG

Montelukast

Double blind double dummy

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Professor Warren Lenney

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Warren Lenney · University Hospital of North Staffordshire

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

TRIPLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

6 Years

Max Age

14 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2009-04-30

Primary Completion

2010-06-30

Completion

2011-01-31