What is Asthma?*
Asthma is a condition that can cause breathing difficulties. Children with asthma may cough or wheeze. Asthma happens because the tubes in the lungs swell, become tight and get thick liquid in them (look at the lung on the right in the picture). Sometimes children with asthma have asthma attacks and need to go to hospital or may not be well enough to go to school.
Why is this study being done?
Some children and young people with asthma in the United Kingdom continue to have poor control and frequent asthma attacks, despite effective therapies being available. Asthma symptoms and attacks are usually treated with a reliever medication (blue inhaler) that briefly opens the airways. But the effects wear off and blue inhalers don’t treat the underlying problem of airway inflammation (swelling).
There is a combination inhaler designed to relieve the immediate symptoms whilst also working on the underlying airway inflammation. This inhaler has been shown to work well in adults and teenagers; however, it is not currently available as a reliever to children under 12 years old. Therefore, we aim to assess whether this type of combination inhaler works more effectively than the current treatment in children aged 6-11 years.
What is the combination inhaler we want to test?
The combination inhaler is called Symbicort® which has been licenced to 12-year-olds and older. It was designed to
- relieve the immediate symptoms with a fast-acting and long-lasting reliever medicine (formoterol)
- work on the airway inflammation with a preventer steroid as maintenance (budesonide)
Symbicort® can be used as needed for children having mild symptoms who currently use only a blue inhaler (reliever) or a low-dose brown inhaler (maintenance). It can also be used every day for both reliever and maintenance treatment for those with more frequent symptoms.
Want to get involved?
We are inviting 1,352 children aged 6-11 years from all over the UK to take part.
1,352 children with asthma
Children between the ages of 6 – 11
2 in-person and 2 virtual visits through 1 year participation
To find out more about the study and what participating means, please read our information sheet:
Be a Participant
If you’re interested in taking part, please click the link below and complete our Registration of Interest Form, where we will ask you to share your contact details so that a member of the research team can get in touch to confirm your child is eligible to participate. Click here to register your interest:
Support you will get for those enrolled in the study
Every child in the study will receive a personal Asthma Action Plan. This plan explains how to manage your asthma. If you like, we can also give a copy of your Asthma Action Plan and a letter explaining the changes to your school. Additionally, we will provide a letter to your GP or regular asthma carer to ensure your usual care won’t be affected.
Randomised Participants
0
Target Participants
1352
Opened Hospitals
1
*If you want to know more about asthma, further information can be found on Asthma + Lung UK website.
