None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
On 21st November 2016, Melbourne suffered an asthma epidemic following a thunderstorm that overwhelmed emergency services and led to the activation of disaster codes. Tragically, 10 people died of asthma as a consequence. Whilst clusters of Epidemic Thunderstorm Asthma (ETSA) have been previously reported, this event was unprecedented in its severity. It is inevitable that such severe weather events as occurred in 2016 will recur, so that the risks to individuals need to be better understood and preventive strategies developed based on evidence that can apply at both an individual, clinical and at a public health level. So there is an urgent need to identify predictors of susceptibility and severity to ETSA to inform public health and clinical preventive strategies. This proposal brings together a team of clinicians, epidemiologists, botanists, medical, pharmaceutical, scientific and policy experts to answer questions resulting from this epidemic and provide evidence-based advice to the community and health care providers to manage recurrent weather events of this nature. The study is planned to begin immediately prior to the 2018-9 grass pollen season and recruit people from October 2018. Participants will form a cohort that can be monitored with an App for the upcoming season. The project findings will be disseminated through the scientific literature but will also be disseminated through peak asthma bodies and clinical guidelines as well as public health initiatives.
Interventions
Patients who have suffered from a thunderstorm asthma exacerbation and patients with seasonal allergic rhino-conjunctivitis are recruited into this observational study, and will be invited to a single visit at the study site collecting information on :
a) Demographic and clinical data (questionnaires, lung function tests, skin prick tests)
b) Biological samples for further analysis and biobanking (blood test)
c) Prospective data obtaining springtime symptoms of asthma and rhinitis correlated w
Patients who have suffered from a thunderstorm asthma exacerbation and patients with seasonal allergic rhino-conjunctivitis are recruited into this observational study, and will be invited to a single visit at the study site collecting information on : a) Demographic and clinical data (questionnaires, lung function tests, skin prick tests) b) Biological samples for further analysis and biobanking (blood test) c) Prospective data obtaining springtime symptoms of asthma and rhinitis correlated with atmospheric data (patient-reported symptoms on AirRater app). The app is downloadable onto patient's smartphone for free and once registered, patient is able to report daily symptoms of allergic rhinitis (hay fever) or asthma, medication use and location at time of symptoms is recorded through a geolocation feature within the app. Recruitment period will be from October 15, 2018 - November 11, 2018 and the observation period will end 1st week of December (December 9, 2018).
Sponsors
Melbourne Health
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Consenting adults aged greater than or equal to 18 years who have a) suffered from epidemic thunderstorm asthma previously identified from hospital records b) or individuals from similar geographic areas who suffer from seasonal allergic rhinitis who have not been identified as suffering from epidemic thunderstorm asthma. And who are willing to participate in a) Lung function testing b) Sample collection for bio-banking for risk factor identification c) and who are able to prospectively log symptom and medication through the springtime season by the use of the AirRater smartphone app.
Exclusion criteria
a) Children <18 yrs of age b) Individuals unable to provide informed consent c) Individuals who do not suffer from symptoms of seasonal allergic rhinoconjunctivitis d) Individuals who do not consent to the conduct of lung function testing and biological sample collection
Outcome results
None listed