Feasibility of a personalised medicine clinic for children with asthma
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Feasibility of a personalised medicine clinic for children with asthma aged 4-15 years (II)
IRAS ID
251057
Contact name
Somnath Mukhopadhyay
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 4 days
Research summary
Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases affecting children in the UK. Poorly controlled asthma manifests with chronic cough, wheeze and shortness of breath which in-turn has a significant negative impact on a child's quality of life, interfering with sleep, impairing exercise ability and resulting in frequent school absences and hospital admissions.
Management of paediatric asthma in the UK is directed by the British Thoracic Society (BTS) Guidelines, which recommend a stepwise (one to five) treatment plan. Step three of the management guideline for children recommends the addition of the preventer inhaled medication, including long-acting β2 agonists such as salmeterol. However, there is a wide variation in response to this medication with approximately one in seven people, with a specific genetic change, found to have an increase in asthma symptoms in response to starting the medication.
In this study, we will aim to identify children with asthma whose symptoms are poorly controlled at BTS step 2 or 3. Via a simple saliva test, we will identify the presence or absence of the specific gene influencing the effectiveness of treatment with salmeterol thus enabling us to recommend either salmeterol or an alternative medication for the treatment plan such as montelukast. The participants will all receive “personalised care” where the choice of controller medication would be based on their gene test results and predicted response to salmeterol or montelukast. We aim to measure whether this individualized approach to asthma prescribing results in improved control of asthma symptoms and overall quality of life. Targeting treatment to a child’s specific genetic make-up is a concept known as “personalised medicine”.REC name
East of Scotland Research Ethics Service REC 1
REC reference
18/ES/0114
Date of REC Opinion
20 Dec 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion