Scottish study aims to cut childern's asthma attacks

Children with asthma will take part in a study led by the University of Aberdeen.

Researchers at Aberdeen University will evaluate children using the test which monitors their nitric oxide (NO) levels.

Everyone produces NO, but asthma sufferers produce more.

Approximately 368,000 people in Scotland have asthma, including 72,000 children.

Doctors previously measured the levels in asthma sufferers to establish if they need more or less medication, but found the measurement was not useful.

However, Dr Steve Turner, leading the new study, says there was a lack of understanding of what constitutes a significant change in NO level.

Following a review of 150 cases, Dr Turner and colleagues found the range of NO levels asthma sufferers was far wider than previously thought.

Using this data, Dr Turner has drawn up new recommendations for a “significant” change in NO levels.

Five hundred children from 25 centres UK-wide will be recruited to the study.

Half will have their treatment guided by the new test plus any asthma symptoms they have, including monitoring of their use of medication. The other half’s treatment will be based only on their symptoms.

Researchers will compare the two groups and see how many asthma attacks they have had. This will show whether measuring NO in children with asthma can help prevent asthma attacks.

Dr Turner said: “We’ve always known that nitric oxide levels were important but we didn’t know just how wide the range of NO levels could be.

“This study will use our new definition of NO level changes, along with close monitoring of the amount of treatment each patient is using in order to accurately show if their asthma requires more or less medication.”