Metabolomic profiling of children with wheeze - WHAM study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Metabolomic profiling in children with acute wheeze presenting to the emergency department: a prospective observational feasibility study
IRAS ID
264591
Contact name
Ian K Maconochie
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 31 days
Research summary
Acute wheezing is one of the most frequent reasons for children to present to the paediatric emergency department. In children with recurrent attacks, it can develop into asthma, and have long lasting effects into adulthood. Acute wheeze attacks are typically managed with a -one fits all- approach. However, we know that not all attacks will respond to the same treatments. It is important that we understand better what is causing a wheeze attack in each child. One way of understanding this is to look for chemicals that are released in urine during an attack to decide which treatments they should have. This is attractive for young children as urine is an easy sample to obtain.
We aim to recruit 100 children between 2 and 16 years old with acute wheeze presenting to the children's emergency department, and 50 children without wheeze. After obtaining consent to participate, we will collect 1) questionnaire data on asthma symptoms and asthma control; 2) urine sample and a sample of fluid from the nostril to analyse the metabolite chemicals, 3) a blood test to look at allergies and severity of the wheeze attack, 4) nose and throat swabs for infection, 5) blowing tests to check how well their lungs are working, 6) a breath test to look at the inflammation in their lungs, 7) skin test for allergies. Our aim is to relate the blood, infection, allergy and metabolite results to the severity of the child's wheeze attack and their symptoms. We will see the children again 4-6 weeks after the attack to ask about symptoms and re-check their breathing tests and urine and nose swabs to see if they have fully recovered. This will allow us to understand treatments that can be used for the attack and to help predict and prevent a future attack.
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/EM/0008
Date of REC Opinion
4 May 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion