CHAMPIONS Study v1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Childhood Asthma Management in Primary Care: Implementation Of Exhaled Nitric Oxide and Spirometry Testing (CHAMPIONS study)
IRAS ID
199804
Contact name
David Lo
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Leicester
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
What are the capacity and training needs in primary care to implement routine spirometry and FeNO testing in children aged 5-16 years?
Asthma is the commonest long-term disease of childhood in the 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.
Recent National Institute for Health and Care Excellence draft guidance recommends the routine use of lung function tests in all children seen in general practice with confirmed or suspected asthma.
The proposed lung function tests (spirometry and exhaled nitric oxide measurements) are already used routinely in 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 we believe that performing lung function tests in general practice is a good idea, we do not know how this can be achieved. This study’s main aim is to find out what training and resources are required to deliver these tests sustainably and to support their introduction into local GP surgeries.
How? – We will work with GP surgeries around Leicestershire. Firstly, to identify what the barriers are to implementing these tests; then secondly to train GP teams to perform and interpret lung function tests in children. We aim to invite 1000 children aged 5-16 with diagnosed or suspected asthma (identified from GP register) to attend clinics where we will support primary care teams to perform lung function tests routinely as part of the asthma annual review. We plan to complete this study within 2 years.REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/EM/0162
Date of REC Opinion
8 Apr 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion