Breathing Together Study

Asthma is one of the commonest long-term conditions in childhood and adulthood. Many children with asthma already have problems with episodes of wheezing by the time they are two or three years old.

It is therefore important for doctors to understand how lungs develop in the first few years of life. At the moment we do not understand this nor why some children start to wheeze or develop asthma. At least a third of babies will develop wheeze before they start school.

We think that problems with the lining of breathing tubes inside of the lung (the airways) and with the developing immune system are vitally important to the development of asthma.

What is the purpose of the study?

The purpose of this study is to understand how the lining of the lung and the immune system develops in well pre-school children and what goes wrong in children who develop asthma. This approach has never been studied before in new-borns. We will also assess how allergies and the bacteria in our environment affect the way that the lining of the lung and the immune system work. We will study the cells from the inside of new-born babies’ noses because they are very similar to those lining the airways and blood immune cells. We will use the information gained in this study to develop new approaches to prevent children from developing asthma.

What are we doing in the study?

• We will collect some information about children in the study and their family plus some collect some samples in the 10 days after they are born, then when they are 1 and 3 years of age.
• Every month we will send a very short email to ask whether each child has wheezed.
• Once your children are over 6 months of age, we will collect some additional information and samples if they start to wheeze.

Further information is available in the participant information sheet.

The study does not involve the testing of any new medication.

Who is organising and funding the research?

The study is being funded by the Welcome Trust and is sponsored by Imperial College London.

Contact for further information

Local Principal Investigator: Professor Graham Roberts, 02381 206160

Local Research Nurse: Maria Larsson, 01983 530786, 07710 229794

For further information please visit the Breathing Together website by clicking here.