Project Summary
This research project is in progress. PCORI will post the research findings on this page within 90 days after the results are final.
What is the research about?
Asthma is a common illness in children that can make it hard to breathe. Children from families with low incomes and racial or ethnic minorities have high rates of asthma. Triggers such as cockroaches, dust mites, and mold can make asthma worse. Reducing triggers in the home can improve asthma symptoms. But reducing all triggers can be costly and hard to do. Families of children with asthma need simple, low-cost ways to reduce asthma triggers in the home.
In this study, the research team is comparing two ways to improve asthma symptoms. One focuses on reducing the number of cockroaches in the home with insect bait. Cockroaches are a key asthma trigger in children, and insect bait is low cost, easy to use, and less toxic than other forms of pest control. The other way addresses multiple triggers.
Who can this research help?
Results may help clinicians when advising families on ways to reduce asthma triggers in the home.
What is the research team doing?
The research team is recruiting families of children with asthma who attend health clinics in the Greater New Orleans area. The team is assigning each family by chance to receive either insect bait alone or insect bait plus
- Asthma education
- Mattress and bed covers
- A HEPA vacuum, which traps very small dust particles
- An air purifier
- Education on cleaning techniques
Over one year, the research team is checking on children’s asthma symptoms and control, asthma-related healthcare use, quality of life, rescue medicine use, lung function, and the number of cockroaches in the home. The team is comparing these outcomes across children in each group to see how reducing one trigger compares with reducing multiple triggers.
Caregivers of children with asthma, clinicians, and community leaders helped choose study outcomes and helped with recruitment.
Research methods at a glance
| Design Elements | Description |
|---|---|
| Design | Randomized controlled trial |
| Population | 290 children ages 5–17 with uncontrolled persistent asthma living in the Greater New Orleans area who are exposed to cockroaches in the home and their caregivers |
| Interventions/ Comparators |
|
| Outcomes |
Primary: number of days with asthma symptoms in past 2 weeks; asthma-related hospitalizations, emergency room visits, or unscheduled doctor visits in the previous month; asthma control Secondary: asthma quality of life, rescue medicine use, lung function, cockroach exposure |
| 1-year follow-up for primary outcomes |