Active clinical trials for "Asthma"

Viral infections are the main cause of asthma attacks in preschoolers, an age group with the highest rate of emergency visits due to asthma. While high doses of inhaled or oral corticosteroids provide benefits, these have been associated with adverse outcomes. Most asthmatic children have lower blood levels of vitamin D compared to non-asthmatic children. Low vitamin D level has been linked to more frequent and more severe asthma attacks as well as with higher dose requirement of inhaled corticosteroid. Recent studies show that vitamin D supplements can reduce the number of asthma attacks triggered by viral infections in children. Unfortunately, most people forget to take vitamin D every day during the fall and winter season as recommended in Canada. A solution is to give a vitamin D bolus by mouth. This has been shown to safely and effectively increase vitamin D levels in children. The investigators hypothesise that a vitamin D bolus given in clinic will sufficiently increase the blood level of vitamin D to prevent the expected winter decline in vitamin D, compared with placebo in preschool-aged children with asthma. This six-month pilot randomized controlled trial aims to: (1) show that a vitamin D bolus is superior to placebo in raising vitamin D levels; (2) record the number of asthma attacks and viral infections in enrolled participants; and (3) identify problems that may call for protocol changes.

The purpose of this study is to determine the efficacy of indacaterol 55µg once daily (and 27.5 µg twice) in QVA149 compared to 75 µg indacaterol monotherapy.

This randomized, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study will evaluate the efficacy of lebrikizumab compared with placebo, as measured by the ability of participants to achieve lower daily doses of OCS, among those with severe corticosteroid-dependent asthma. Prednisone/prednisolone will be the OCS therapy prescribed. Participants will be randomized to receive lebrikizumab or matching placebo for 44 weeks in a double-blind, placebo-controlled (DBPC) period. Those who complete the 44-week period may continue into a 32-week active treatment extension (ATE) period, during which all participants will receive lebrikizumab treatment. Following completion of the ATE period, participants who have both tolerated and derived benefit from treatment with lebrikizumab may continue their lebrikizumab treatment into a long-term extension (LTE) period. Participants will transition to 24 weeks of safety follow-up upon discontinuation of study drug.

This is a randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, placebo-controlled, three-way cross-over, single centre study in participants with asthma undergoing inhalation of methacholine and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to assess the provocative concentration (PC20) response of two dose levels of gefapixant (AF-219) compared with placebo.

The purpose of this study is to find the best asthma treatment to add for Blacks who have asthma that is not well controlled on a low dose of inhaled steroid. This study will also try to find out if Black adults and children differ in how they respond to the medications used in this study.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficacy and safety of different doses of sublingual tablets of house dust mite allergen extracts as compared to placebo in adults with house dust mite-associated allergic asthma.

Asthma in older adults has been overlooked, understudied, and inadequately treated. While asthma programs targeting the unique needs of children, teenagers, women, minorities, and other populations have been successfully developed, there are currently none for older adults. This is particularly distressing as the asthma hospitalization rates, mortality rates, quality of life, and control are significantly worse in the elderly as compared to other age groups. It is clear that novel approaches are needed to improve the care in this population. The investigators group has been active in the research of asthma in the elderly. The investigators have analyzed national asthma data sets to look for disparities in older adults, have conducted qualitative research to determine factors associated with poor control in the elderly, and have performed a pilot study of a self-regulation intervention which was able to improve outcomes. The investigators also have over 20 years of experience in asthma self-regulation interventions and physician communication enhancement for multiple populations of asthma patients. The investigators will combine these strengths into their current protocol. The intervention program will be based on the self-regulation theory of behavior, which will enhance the participants' ability to self-manage this chronic condition, actively involve the participant in their own health care management, and produce sustained results. In this proposal, the investigators will evaluate a self-regulation asthma intervention in a diverse population of older adults. The intervention will be personalized to the challenges and goals each individual faces, which will enhance its applicability in different populations. This intervention will incorporate standard asthma education, complementary techniques for which older adults have expressed a strong interest, and enhanced communication with each participant's physician. Asthma specific outcomes will be assessed at 1, 6, and 12 months. The primary goal of this intervention is to decrease health care utilization (emergency department, urgent care, hospital, and unscheduled visits) for older adults with asthma. The investigators will also assess the ability to improve quality of life, asthma symptoms, asthma control, lung function parameters, self-efficacy, and cost effectiveness.

Asthma is a common condition which produces a significant workload for general practice, hospital outpatient clinics and inpatient admissions. Asthma is caused by inflammation of the airways which irritates the muscles around the airways causing them to constrict. The mainstay of asthma treatment is inhaled steroids. If the patients' symptoms are still not adequately controlled, then a long-acting beta agonist (LABA) inhaler which relaxes the muscles in the airways and opens it up is frequently added to the inhaled steroids. Despite this, a substantial proportion of asthmatic patients still do not achieve adequate control of their symptoms. Recent studies have shown when an alternative inhaler called a long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA) is added to a LABA - it reduced the number of asthma exacerbations (flare-ups) and improved airway narrowing. The mannitol challenge is a test of airway 'twitchiness', an important feature of asthma. There have been no previous studies assessing the combined effects LABA and LAMA inhalers on mannitol challenge. The mannitol challenge is particularly relevant as it mimics stimuli encountered in real life which provoke an asthma attack. The investigators propose to directly compare indacaterol, a new once-daily LABA with indacaterol plus tiotropium, a once-daily LAMA, as add-on treatment to inhaled steroids in persistent asthmatics using the mannitol challenge. The investigators hope that this study will help us understand how the combination of a LABA and LAMA might help protect against flare-ups.

This is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled parallel-group study. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive treatment with beclomethasone dipropionate at a dosage of 80 or 160 mcg/day delivered via a Breath-Actuated Inhaler (BAI); or a matching BAI placebo, in a 1:1:1 ratio after a 14- to 21-day run-in period. Participants and investigators will remain blinded to randomized treatment assignment during the study

This is a Phase 3, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind,double-dummy, parallel-group, 12-week study in male and female patients, 12 years of age and older, with persistent asthma.