NONINVASIVE MEASURES OF AIRWAY INFLAMMAITON AND AIRFLOW OBSTRUCTION IN WHEEZY

这个子项目是众多研究子项目之一

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Recurrent wheezing is common in early childhood, affecting over 20% of children. Noninvasive methods to diagnosis airflow obstruction and airway inflammation are lacking in infants and toddlers, making it difficult for clinicians to separate transient wheezing of early childhood from early persistent asthma. If such methods were available they would assist medical care providers with the early diagnosis of asthma, provide a rationale basis for the initiation of daily inhaled corticosteroids, and perhaps reduce early decline in lung function through timely therapeutic intervention. The overall goal of this research is to characterize longitudinal noninvasive measures of airway inflammation and airflow obstruction in a cohort of 46 infants with a history of recurrent wheezing, and 54 age- matched controls. The goals of this study are to assess the associations of longitudinal measurements of exhaled nitric oxide, cysteinyl leukotrienes in exhaled breath condensate, and the thoracic index (an anthropometric measure of pulmonary hyperinflation), with symptoms and infant pulmonary function measures of lung function using the raised-volume rapid thoracic compression technique. Longitudinal values of these noninvasive measures will also be compared between infants with recurrent wheezing and healthy control subjects. We hypothesize that these noninvasive measures will be associated with airflow obstruction and bronchodilator responsiveness (assessed by infant lung function testing), and clinical symptoms, during a 2-year follow-up period. This observational study is a single-center study that will occur at CHRMC.