Investigation Of The Influence Preterm Birth On Lung Structure And Function In School Age Children.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$204,482.00
Summary
Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) remains the most significant chronic lung complication of premature birth. While some information on the long term respiratory outcomes in BPD exist there are no comprehensive studies linking lung structure, function and respiratory symptoms and relating these changes to neonatal history. Studies of this kind are essential to ensure future healthcare for these children can be planned accordingly.
Risk Factors For Chronic Respiratory Diseases In Middle Age: 36-year Follow-up Of The Tasmanian Asthma Study
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$358,750.00
Summary
This project will improve our understanding of the causes of chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) in adults. CRDs are clearly a major public health problem, but there are no good data on the natural history and risk factors for these diseases. Regular follow-up through childhood to adulthood is the best method to examine these factors, but such data is lacking due to difficulties in conducting long-term studies. The Tasmanian Asthma Study (TAS), based on 8,585 Tasmanians (i.e. probands) born in 1 ....This project will improve our understanding of the causes of chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) in adults. CRDs are clearly a major public health problem, but there are no good data on the natural history and risk factors for these diseases. Regular follow-up through childhood to adulthood is the best method to examine these factors, but such data is lacking due to difficulties in conducting long-term studies. The Tasmanian Asthma Study (TAS), based on 8,585 Tasmanians (i.e. probands) born in 1961, is one of the worlds most important resources of such information. The probands, their parents (16,267) and siblings (21,044) were first investigated for respiratory problems in 1968. Subsequently, three follow-up surveys were carried out at ages 13 (1974), 20 (1981) and 31 (1992) on either the total or sub-samples of the probands. In 1992, the children and spouses of the probands were also surveyed. Information on all respiratory problems was collected in all the follow-ups, although the main focus of the TAS to date has been asthma. The probands are now reaching the age at which all CRD as a group are beginning to inflict an increasing disease burden, which will become greater in the next two decades. Hence, TAS now provides an ideal opportunity to examine the potential risk factors and natural history of and of CRDs using data collected to date and new data collected at age 43. Also, it will provide a platform for future studies to investigate the progression of CRDs in this cohort. Hence, we propose to carry out the 36 year follow-up of this cohort focusing on CRDs. This will provide important information for preventing chronic respiratory morbidity and disability in the future, which will be original and significant not only in Australia but also internationally.Read moreRead less
Postviral Wheezing In Childhood: Disregulation Of Airway Tone?
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$577,040.00
Summary
Asthma is a very common childhood condition that is becoming increasingly more common. Wheezing is common in infants and young children following viral infections and is often thought of as the first manifestation of asthma. However, many children and infants who wheeze with viral infections appear to grow out of asthma in their teenage years. Asthma that persists into adult life is usually associated with allergies to common environmental allergens, such as house dust mite and grass pollens. Ho ....Asthma is a very common childhood condition that is becoming increasingly more common. Wheezing is common in infants and young children following viral infections and is often thought of as the first manifestation of asthma. However, many children and infants who wheeze with viral infections appear to grow out of asthma in their teenage years. Asthma that persists into adult life is usually associated with allergies to common environmental allergens, such as house dust mite and grass pollens. However, many infants who wheeze with viral infections, especially in the first year of life, do not develop allergies in later life, raising the possibility that they did not have the same type of asthma as those whose symptoms persist. This project will study the effects of viral infections on lung function to determine whether particular types of virus can have detrimental effects of lung function lasting for years. We will also examine whether the age at which the infection occurs and the severity of the infection influence the long-term outcome. The project involves studying infants during the recovery phase of respiratory viral infections, older children years after documented infections and experimental animal models that have been infected under controlled conditions. By determining whether respiratory viral infections can have long-term effects on lung function that can mimic asthma, we will advance our understanding of how asthma develops. In addition, specific treatment and preventative strategies could then be developed to prevent these long-term abnormalities, instead of relying on asthma medication (especially inhaled corticosteroids) as is the current practice. Preventative strategies could include encouraging the development of specific vaccines.Read moreRead less
We will conduct a survey of respiratory symptoms, lung function, smoking status, occupational exposures, and other risk factors among 3200 people aged 40 years and over living in five Australian communities: Melbourne, Sydney, Tasmania, Busselton (WA), and the Kimberley region (WA). In the Kimberley we will survey 400 Aboriginal people and 400 non-Aboriginal people. We will use a survey methodology that has been developed by an international expert panel and has been implemented in many other co ....We will conduct a survey of respiratory symptoms, lung function, smoking status, occupational exposures, and other risk factors among 3200 people aged 40 years and over living in five Australian communities: Melbourne, Sydney, Tasmania, Busselton (WA), and the Kimberley region (WA). In the Kimberley we will survey 400 Aboriginal people and 400 non-Aboriginal people. We will use a survey methodology that has been developed by an international expert panel and has been implemented in many other countries (in North and South America, Asia, and Europe). This study will provide the first nationally-representative information on the burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the opportunities for health gain by improving the management of this illness. In Australia, COPD is a relatively silent and under-recognised disease but nevertheless is the third most important contributor to the burden of disease and the third leading cause of hospital admission as well as being the underlying cause of 4.2% of all deaths. The information we will collect is needed to form a basis for prevention and disease management interventions to reduce the burden of COPD, particularly among population sub-groups who are disproportionately affected, either due to greater exposure to risk factors (mainly tobacco smoking and occupation), greater susceptibility, under-recognition and under-diagnosis, or inadequate disease management. Importantly, the study will serve to raise awareness about the hazards of smoking for all Australians. By identifying target groups, prevalent exposures and management deficiencies, it will lead the way towards policy-relevant randomised controlled trials testing community-based interventions to prevent COPD and-or manage it more effectively. The information collected will help advance knowledge of the prevalence, burden and treatment of COPD that will be relevant to communities throughout the world.Read moreRead less
Hyperpolarized Helium MRI To Quantify Regional Lung Damage And Ventilation For Improvement Of Recruitment Strategy.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$455,160.00
Summary
Many lung injuries need mechanical ventilation to reopen collapsed lung airspaces and supply oxygen to the patient. This study uses two methods to monitor the lungs during ventilation: Hyperpolarised helium MRI to image the airspace, and electrical impedance tomography to measure lung volume. This information will allow adjustment of ventilator pressure to maximize oxygen transfer without increasing lung damage. Quicker repair of lung damage and patient recovery are the benefits of this study.
Early Life Arsenic Exposure Alters Lung Development And Inflammatory Responses To Virus And Cigarette Smoke
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$455,380.00
Summary
The contamination of drinking water sources with arsenic is a global health issue affecting millions. While arsenic is a well known cancer causing agent, recent evidence suggests that early life arsenic exposure via drinking water increases the risk of obstructive lung disease in later life. This project aims to examine how the timing and dose of arsenic exposure influences lung development and the response to respiratory insults including viral infection and cigarette smoke.
Low-yield Cigarettes And Diminution Of Small Airways Lung Function In Long-term Smokers
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$209,500.00
Summary
The modern cigarette has been designed to produce low yields of tar when the tobacco in the cigarette is burnt. The tar contains human carcinogens, and monitoring and regulating yields of tar has long been part of the comprehensive tobacco control strategy in Australia. This focus on tar has given an implicit endorsement of the low-yield cigarette as a safer cigarette. Recently, however, controversy has emerged about whether smoking low-yield cigarettes has reduced the harm done by smoking. The ....The modern cigarette has been designed to produce low yields of tar when the tobacco in the cigarette is burnt. The tar contains human carcinogens, and monitoring and regulating yields of tar has long been part of the comprehensive tobacco control strategy in Australia. This focus on tar has given an implicit endorsement of the low-yield cigarette as a safer cigarette. Recently, however, controversy has emerged about whether smoking low-yield cigarettes has reduced the harm done by smoking. The concern is that adenocarcinoma of the lung, a type of lung cancer that is most common in the small peripheral airways, has increased in frequency. This could be because the low-yield cigarette, with reduced yields of nicotine as well as tar, is smoked more intensely by smokers to compensate for the low nicotine. By smoking more intensely, we mean taking larger and more frequent puffs, inhaling the smoke deeply into the lungs, and holding the breath before expiring. This method of smoking would result in more tar particles being deposited in the peripheries of the lung where adenocarcinoma is most common. Because cigarette smoking has been linked also with other structural changes in the small airways of the lung, resulting in obstruction of airflow, we will test whether smoking low-yield cigarettes is associated with greater obstruction of the small airways than is smoking higher-yield cigarettes. To test whether the mechanism is the method of smoking, we will carefully describe and quantify each subject's pattern of smoking including the deposition of smoke-like Technegas particles in the peripheral lung.Read moreRead less