MedPath

Inflammatory, Functional and Image Composite Measure to Define Asthma Control

Phase 4
Conditions
Asthma
Registration Number
NCT00597064
Lead Sponsor
Federal University of São Paulo
Brief Summary

The goals of control status of asthma have been changed with the improvement of its management as a chronic disease; many steps should be taken to achieve asthma control as defined by the GINA/NIH guidelines. There are good results with single variables, but overall asthma control should be addressed in different ways. Most traditional clinical studies provide an incomplete assessment of disease control, despite good clinical practice. The association of inhaled corticosteroid (IC) and long-action beta 2 agonist (LABA) has already showed their efficacy to reduce asthma symptoms, exacerbations and cost for moderate and severe asthma patients as well as the improvement in their quality of life. On the other hand, even with the use of first line maintenance medication, as recommended by guidelines, some asthmatic patients fail in obtaining a total control of the disease. This lack of efficacy, led us to hypothesize, that these patients who fail in response, would present chronic and fixed airway obstruction as a consequence of persistent inflammation and airway remodeling. This study has the purpose of looking for an adequate composite measure to provide an indicator of overall asthma status more accurately and meaningfully as reflect of treatment effectiveness and disease control. For this, we will test by a randomized control trial if an additional oral corticosteroid treatment could modify spirometric and plethysmography values, nasal and low airway cytology and HRCT (to evaluate small airway) in regularly treated stable asthma patients who have a positive bronchodilator response.

Detailed Description

To evaluate the achievement of asthma control status in asthmatic patients, regularly treated with IC + LABA to answer the following questions:

i. Is it possible to improve the pulmonary function (spirometry and plethysmography) of stable asthma patients, regularly treated with IC + LABA, who have a positive bronchodilator response, with the introduction of oral steroid?

ii. What is the relationship among nasal, induced sputum and blood cytology, as a tool to observe inflammatory airway expression, in controlled and total controlled asthma patients? What will be these values response if oral steroids have been introduced?

iii. What is the correlation between pulmonary volumes and airways inflammation to evaluate severity and control status in asthmatic patients, using plethysmography and HRCT? What will be these values response if oral steroids have been introduced?

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
UNKNOWN
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
70
Inclusion Criteria

Not provided

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Exclusion Criteria
  • Having a smoking history of 5 pack/years or more; having other known chronic pulmonary diseases; having side effect to oral corticosteroid
  • Having an upper or lower respiratory tract infection within 4 weeks of visit 0
  • Unable to do the tests involved in the study.
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Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Asthma control status characterized by nocturnal and diurnal symptom score FEV1,total lung capacity in plethysmography and reducing the air-tapping in HRCT.30 days
Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Quality of life, Sputum and nasal cytology, adverse events30 days

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Rua Botucatu 740 3 ° and - Pneumologia

🇧🇷

São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil

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