How can we optimise inhaled beta2 agonist dose as 'reliever' medicine for wheezy pre-school children? Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

S. Mukhopadhyay, Paul Seddon, Gemma Earl, Emma Wileman, Liz Symes, Cathy Olden, Corinne Alberti, Stephen Bremner, Alison Lansley, Colin N.A. Palmer, Nicole Beydon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Abstract Background: Asthma is a common problem in children and, if inadequately controlled, may seriously diminish their quality of life. Inhaled short-acting beta2 agonists such as salbutamol are usually prescribed as ‘reliever’ medication to help control day-to-day symptoms such as wheeze. As with many medications currentlyprescribed for younger children (defined as those aged 2 years 6 months to 6 years 11 months), there has been no pre-licensing age-specific pharmacological testing; consequently, the doses currently prescribed(200–1000 μg) may be ineffective or likely to induce unnecessary side effects. We plan to use the interrupter technique to measure airway resistance in this age group, allowing us for the first time to correlate inhaled salbutamol dose with changes in clinical response. We will measure urinary salbutamol levels 30 min afterdosing as an estimate of salbutamol doses in the lungs, and also look for genetic polymorphisms linked to poor responses to inhaled salbutamol. Methods: This is a phase IV, randomised, controlled, observer-blinded, single-centre trial with four parallel groups (based on a sparse sampling approach) and a primary endpoint of the immediate bronchodilatorresponse to salbutamol so that we can determine the most appropriate dose for an individual younger child. Simple randomisation will be used with a 1:1:1:1 allocation. Discussion: The proposed research will exploit simple, non-invasive and inexpensive tests that can mostly be performed in an outpatient setting in order to help develop the evidence for the correct dose of salbutamol in younger children with recurrent wheeze who have been prescribed salbutamol by their doctor.
Original languageEnglish
JournalTrials
Volume17
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11 Nov 2016

Bibliographical note

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

Keywords

  • Asthma
  • Wheeze
  • Children
  • Paediatric, Salbutamol
  • Dose finding

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'How can we optimise inhaled beta2 agonist dose as 'reliever' medicine for wheezy pre-school children? Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this