None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
It is not clear whether children with asthma should be advised to avoid feather pillow and quilts in case feather bedding makes asthma symptoms worse. Some exploratory studies have suggested feather bedding might actually be better for children with asthma. The trial was designed to assess whether a new feather pillow and quilt was associated with a reduction in asthma severity among house dust mite sensitised children with asthma over a one year period compared to the use of non-feather bedding
Interventions
Parents and children in the feather intervention group were supplied with and instructed to use only the feather pillow and quilt on a daily basis for 12 months, with no other forms of upper bedding apart from sheets. Consistent with usual practice, the duck feather and down bedding was commercially pre-washed in hot water, chemically treated and hot air dried by the manufacturer before use, with documentation of the procedures used. (Myer House Brand, Hangzhou, China). On hot nights, the replac
Parents and children in the feather intervention group were supplied with and instructed to use only the feather pillow and quilt on a daily basis for 12 months, with no other forms of upper bedding apart from sheets. Consistent with usual practice, the duck feather and down bedding was commercially pre-washed in hot water, chemically treated and hot air dried by the manufacturer before use, with documentation of the procedures used. (Myer House Brand, Hangzhou, China). On hot nights, the replacement use of thin cotton covers was advised if needed. Feather pillows were used all year. A mite-occlusive cover (Auspharm, Australia) was fitted to the child's mattress.
Sponsors
The Australian National University
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Prevention
Masking
Blinded (masking used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
7 Years to 14 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
(1) aged 7 – 14 years; (2) diagnosed with asthma; (3) asthma symptoms that include wheeze; (4) four or more episodes of wheeze per year; or (5) have an episode of speech limiting wheeze in the past 12 months; (6) house dust mite (HDM) sensitised (wheal size of >= 3 mm to Der p 1 and/or Der f 1); (7) sleep in a single bed; and (8) plan to remain in the study region for the next two years
Exclusion criteria
(1) sensitised to feather (wheal size of < 3 mm to feather extract ); (2) sensitised to cat (wheal size of < 3 mm to cat pelt extract) if there is a cat at home; (3) having a feather pillow or quilt on their bed when entering the study;
Outcome results
None listed