Recruiting

Asthma Intervention

Sponsor:

University of Washington

Code:

NCT06552013

Conditions

Asthma in Children

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 6 - 17

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

MERV 13 filter

Sham filter

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this randomized control trial is to learn if box fans and filters can reduce asthma symptoms and improve indoor air quality in children ages 6 - 17 years old with asthma living in the Duwamish Valley, Seattle, Washington. The main question it aims to answer are:

  • Do box fans with filters improve asthma symptoms?
  • Do box fans with filters improve an objective measure used to monitor lung function known as forced expiratory volume during the first second (FEV1)? Researchers will compare children living in households with high quality filters to those in households with sham filters to see if air quality and asthma symptoms improve.

Participants will

  • fill out several questionnaires
  • monitor their lung function with a peak flow meter
  • place an air monitor in their homes to monitor indoor air quality
  • run the box fan when they are at home

Conditions

Asthma in Children

Study ID

NCT06552013

Start date

Jul 30, 2024

Status verified date

Aug, 2024

Completion date

Jul, 2028

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Jul, 2028

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 6 - 17

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • age (6-17 years)
  • poorly controlled physician diagnosed asthma defined as more than four days with asthma symptoms in the past two weeks, use of asthma rescue medication for more than four days in the past two weeks, or health care utilization due to asthma in the past year (hospitalization, emergency room visit, or unscheduled clinic visit)
  • living in Georgetown and South Park neighborhoods of Seattle

Exclusion Criteria:

  • children with unstable housing or shared custody arrangements

Study Design

Enrollment

80 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Prevention

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Sham filter

Participants in this arm will receive a sham filter for their box fans. These filters receive a MERV rating of 1 and only filter very large particles and debris such as lint, hair and insects. These particles have little to no impact on asthma symptoms. MERV stands for "minimum efficiency reporting value" and a filter receives a MERV rating as determined by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers.

experimental: MERV 13 filter

Participants in this arm will receive a MERV 13 filter for their box fans. MERV 13 filters trap the majority of small particles, as small as 1 micron. It also traps up to 75% of particles that are as small as 0.3 microns.

Interventions

MERV 13 filter

This is an environmental intervention consisting of a low-cost box fan with a MERV 13 filter placed behind it. The company Lasko makes these fans and other environmental appliances.

Sham filter

This is an environmental intervention consisting of a low-cost box fan with a sham filter (MERV 1) placed behind it. The company Lasko makes these fans and other environmental appliances.

Primary outcome measure

  • Asthma symptoms [ Time Frame: ACQ will be measured weekly for 6 consecutive weeks, two pre-intervention weeks (before box fans have been given to participant) and four weeks while fans are being used in the home. Symptoms will also be assessed at the six month follow-up visit. ]
  • FEV1 [ Time Frame: FEV1 measures will be taken daily, once in the morning and once at night for the six week study time frame. Prior to the six month follow up we will ask participants to take three consecutive days of FEV1 measurements, for an additional 6 measures ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Anjum Hajat, PhD, MPH

206-685-3618anjumh@uw.edu

Locations

Duwamish River Community Coaltion

Recruiting

Seattle, Washington, United States, 98108

Contacts

Joseph Santana, MPH

253-235-9148joseph@drcc.org

More Information

Sponsor

University of Washington

Last update posted

Aug 13, 2024

Last verified

Aug, 2024

Keywords

  • air quality

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of Washington on 2024-08-13.