Project Information

Project Title:

Lung function in preschool children: Utility in diagnosis of asthma

Principal Investigator(s):

Subbarao, Padmaja

Co-Investigators:

Hall, Graham; Lou, Wen-Yi W; Maksym, Geoffrey N; Ratjen, Felix; Sears, Malcolm R; Turvey, Stuart E

Institution Paid:

Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto)

Research Institution:

Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto)

Department:

Pediatrics/Clinical Epidemiology

Program:

Operating Grant

Competition(Year/Month):

201309 

Assigned Peer Review Committee:

RS Respiratory System

Primary Institute:

Circulatory and Respiratory Health 

Primary Theme:

Clinical

Term (Yrs/Mths):

5 yrs 0 mth  

CIHR Contribution:

$447,196

Keywords:

ASTHMA; COHORT STUDIES; DIAGNOSIS; HEALTH ASSESSMENT; LUNG FUNCTION; PHYSIOLOGY; PREDICTORS; PRESCHOOL CHILDREN; WHEEZING

Abstract:

Every child deserves to play; but you can’t play if you can’t breathe. Asthma affects nearly 1 in 5 Canadians and most have their symptoms before the age of 5; but many children have the same symptoms and don’t have asthma. These other children are said to ‘outgrow’ their asthma and don’t need treatment to get better. Until now we couldn’t tell the difference between those who have asthma and those who don’t. Our team has developed a new breathing test that we think can diagnose asthma at age 3. These new tests are very easy to perform; so easy even babies can do it. This new test is called the ‘lung clearance index’ or LCI. We think this will be able to tell us which kids have asthma out of all the kids who have symptoms. At this time, we have a great opportunity to do this study. We have already gathered a group of children in a study to find out why some will get asthma. The children in the study are turning 3 years old now, so we can test them and then follow them until they reach 5 to see who gets asthma. We think LCI will help us figure out which children will get asthma; we can use this information to help doctors give the right treatments to the right patients much earlier and avoid a lot of side-effects by not giving it to kids who don’t need it. It will also help doctors treat kids with asthma earlier so they can play more and avoid getting sick.