The Effect of a School Based Hand Sanitizer Program on Asthma

学校洗手液计划对哮喘的影响

• 批准号: 7304326
• 负责人: Lynn B Gerald
• 金额: $ 72.48万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-08-01 至 2012-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7304326
• 关键词: Asthma; Child; Childhood Asthma; Crossover Design; Effectiveness; Environment; Hand; Hand functions; Handwashing; Health Care Costs; Hygiene; Internet; Intervention; Measures; Monitor; Morbidity - disease rate; Numbers; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Placebos; Public Health; Randomized; Reading; Research; Risk; School-Age Population; Schools; Soaps; Symptoms; System; Time; United States; Viral Respiratory Tract Infection; Virus; Virus Diseases; Water; age related; antimicrobial; base; improved; meter; prevent; programs

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Pediatric asthma is a well documented public health issue in the United States. The impact of pediatric asthma can be measured by both health care costs and morbidity. Asthma morbidity is seasonal with the greatest number of exacerbations occurring in autumn and the fewest in mid-summer. There is a strong age-related seasonal variability with grade school children being the most vulnerable to seasonal changes. Furthermore, the annual peak asthma morbidity for children has been shown to be associated with the start of the school year. Recent research suggests that this seasonality in children is primarily related to viral respiratory tract infections. Regular handwashing has been widely recognized as the most effective means to combat the spread of infectious illness, including viruses. However, effective handwashing among school-age children is inconsistent at best. The school setting provides multiple barriers to effective handwashing such as time constraints, and frequent lack of soap, towels, and strategically located sinks. Spring loaded faucets which serve to prevent overuse of water inadvertently pose an additional barrier to thorough hand cleansing. Hand sanitization in such settings may be effectively accomplished by antimicrobial rinse-free hand sanitizers. Therefore, we propose to collaborate with a single school district to achieve the following specific aims: 1. Develop a simple school based intervention using hand sanitizers to decrease asthma exacerbations in children with asthma. 2. Implement a school based internet monitoring system within both the active and placebo groups to record asthma symptoms, peak flow meter readings, school absences, and use of rescue medications at school. 3. Randomize 26 schools to either active or placebo hand sanitizer. 4. Use a cross-over design to compare the active and placebo groups with regard to time-averaged proportion of children with asthma who have at least one exacerbation per month. Improving hand hygiene in the school environment may be a relatively simple, yet effective way to reduce the risk of asthma exacerbations. By achieving these specific aims, this study will provide valuable information on the effectiveness of hand sanitizers in the school setting.

描述（由申请人提供）：小儿哮喘是美国一个有据可查的公共卫生问题。小儿哮喘的影响可以通过医疗保健费用和发病率来衡量。哮喘发病具有季节性，其中秋季发病最多，仲夏最少。与年龄相关的季节性变化很大，小学生最容易受到季节变化的影响。此外，儿童哮喘发病率的年度高峰已被证明与学年开始有关。最近的研究表明，儿童的这种季节性主要与病毒性呼吸道感染有关。定期洗手已被广泛认为是对抗包括病毒在内的传染病传播的最有效手段。然而，学龄儿童的有效洗手充其量是不一致的。学校环境给有效洗手带来了多重障碍，例如时间限制、经常缺乏肥皂、毛巾和位置优越的水槽。弹簧水龙头可防止无意中过度用水，从而为彻底清洁手部造成额外障碍。在这种情况下，可以通过抗菌免冲洗洗手液有效地完成手部消毒。因此，我们建议与单一学区合作，以实现以下具体目标： 1. 使用洗手液制定简单的基于学校的干预措施，以减少哮喘儿童的哮喘恶化。 2. 在活性组和安慰剂组中实施基于学校的互联网监控系统，以记录哮喘症状、峰值流量计读数、学校缺勤以及学校救援药物的使用。 3. 将 26 所学校随机分配给活性洗手液或安慰剂洗手液。 4. 使用交叉设计比较活性药物组和安慰剂组每月至少出现一次哮喘发作的哮喘儿童的时间平均比例。改善学校环境中的手部卫生可能是降低哮喘恶化风险的相对简单但有效的方法。通过实现这些具体目标，这项研究将为学校环境中洗手液的有效性提供有价值的信息。