Cost Effectiveness Analysis of a Randomized Control Trial of q3h vs. q4h Albuterol as Discharge Criteria From the Hospital for Pediatric Asthma Exacerbations

August 13, 2021 updated by: Raymond Parlar-Chun, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

Asthma is the most common chronic condition among children, and the third leading reason for hospitalization of children in the United States. It exerts a large healthcare burden on the US with estimated annual direct healthcare cost of approximately $50.1 billion with indirect costs of $5.9 billion.

Asthma is characterized by airway inflammation and airway constriction. Albuterol and other betaagonists are first line standard of care for acute exacerbations and provide short acting smooth muscle relaxation and subsequent airway opening. The frequency of albuterol administration is dependent on the severity of the exacerbation. For hospitalized patients here at Children's Memorial Hermann (CMHH), patients may receive nebulized albuterol continuously or if the exacerbation is not as severe, receive albuterol intermittently. Intermittent albuterol frequency ranges from every two hour treatments, every three hour (q3h) treatments, or every four hour (q4h) treatments. As patients recover from their acute exacerbation, their frequency of albuterol administration is progressively titrated along this continuum. Expert consensus uses q4h albuterol as discharge criteria from the hospital. However, recent QI initiatives have studied the effect of q3h treatments as the discharge cutoff with no reported changes in safety or harm. There are no randomized controlled trials available. Furthermore, there are no economic evaluations available to see if costs saved by decreasing the length of hospital care are merely being shifted to subsequent clinic or emergency room care costs.

The investigators aim to conduct a randomized control trial to compare q3h vs. q4h albuterol as hospital discharge criteria for patients admitted for acute asthma exacerbations. The investigators also propose to conduct a costeffectiveness analysis of the trial. If the hypothesis that q3h albuterol is safe and as effective as q4h albuterol as discharge criteria, the investigators would be able to argue for a new standard of care that is more cost effective for this very costly and common disease of children in the United States

Study Overview

Status

Withdrawn

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

4 years to 17 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Children with Primary Reason for Hospitalization of Asthma Exacerbation

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Those that never needed q3h albuterol treatments

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: q3h albuterol
Using q3h as discharge criteria from hospital
Behavioral: q3h albuterol
Using q3h albuterol as discharge criteria from hospital
No Intervention: q4h albuterol
Using q4h as discharge criteria from hospital

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Total Treatment Days
Time Frame: Hospitalization to 15 days after discharge
Hospitalization to 15 days after discharge

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Total Costs
Time Frame: Hospitalization to 15 days after discharge
Hospitalization to 15 days after discharge

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Anticipated)

December 1, 2020

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

December 1, 2022

Study Completion (Anticipated)

July 1, 2023

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 1, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 1, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

September 9, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 19, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 13, 2021

Last Verified

August 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • HSC-MS-20-0604

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

Undecided

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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