Contamination of Young Children Hair During Acute Cannabis Intoxication (INTERACTION)

April 9, 2026 updated by: University Hospital, Toulouse

Sudoral Contamination of Young Children Hair During Acute Cannabis Intoxication

Hair analysis in pediatric cannabis intoxication is limited by possible sudoral self-contamination, especially in young children due to hair porosity. However, adult studies show no THC-COOH in sweat, challenging this hypothesis. THC-COOH presence in sweat has to this day never been studied in young children. Its absence would help assess the reliability of hair testing for prior exposure. Thus, our main objective is to describe whether THC-COOH can be detected in sweat following cannabis intoxication using gold standard techniques.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

In cases of pediatric cannabis intoxication, hair analysis is frequently used to assess prior exposure. However, in young children, especially under 3 years old, hair porosity raises concerns about external contamination, notably through sweat. It has been hypothesized that cannabinoids could migrate into the hair via sweat shortly after ingestion, leading to self-contamination and potentially compromising the interpretation of results. This is particularly relevant when trying to distinguish acute ingestion from chronic exposure. In adults, several studies have shown no detectable sudoral concentrations of THC-COOH, the main metabolite used in hair testing, suggesting that such contamination is unlikely. However, due to developmental differences in pharmacokinetics, these findings cannot yet be extrapolated to children. Confirming the absence of THC-COOH in pediatric sweat would strengthen the validity of hair testing as a retrospective exposure tool.

This study would be performed on young children admitted to the emergency department for accidental cannabis intoxication. Sweat would be collected at inclusion using a similar procedure to a sweat test by stimulating sudation using pilocarpine and mild electrical stimulation. Cannabinoids would be analyzed by liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS), which is the gold standard technique.

Follow-up would be simple, consisting in a single consultation 1 to 2 months following inclusion. This consultation is part of the usual medical care for young children following cannabis intoxication.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

15

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

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

  • Child

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Child admitted to the Specialized Emergency Pole (POSU) and pediatric medico-surgical emergencies for acute cannabis intoxication.
  • Child older than 3 months and younger than 3 years.
  • Holders of parental authority, affiliated with or beneficiaries of a social security system.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • History of cannabis intoxication identified during the interview and/or consultation of the medical record.
  • Contraindication to sweat sampling (described in section 6).
  • Absence of hair and/or hair length < 1 cm at the time of inclusion.
  • Ongoing breastfeeding (exclusive and mixed).
  • Inability to provide study-related informations to the holders of parental authority.

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: Diagnostic
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: intoxicated children
children with an intoxication of cannabis admitted to emergency
Other: sudoral and hairing sampling
Sweat sampling using the "sweat test" method, performed after skin stimulation with pilocarpine and a low electrical stimulation. Hair sampling during the follow-up consultation. Sweat, and capillary assays of THC and its main metabolites

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Acide 11-nor-9-carboxy-THC (THC-COOH) concentrations in sweat collected during the first 24 hours following emergency admission.
Time Frame: Day 1
concentration measured in sudoral sample (in µg/l)
Day 1

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Tétrahydrocannabinol (THC), 11-hydroxy-tétrahydrocannabinol (OH-THC) and THC-COOH measured in blood and sweat collected during the first 24 hours following emergency admission.
Time Frame: Day 1
Determination whether blood and sweat THC, OH-THC and THC-COOH concentrations, if present, are correlated following intoxication (in µg/l)
Day 1
THC, OH-THC and THC-COOH measured in two hair samples.
Time Frame: day 1 and the day of follow-up visit at month 1 or month 2
Describing the evolution of THC, OH-THC and THC-COOH hair concentrations in young children (in µg/l)
day 1 and the day of follow-up visit at month 1 or month 2

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University Hospital, Toulouse

Collaborators

University Hospital, Limoges

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Thomas Lanot, University Hospital of Toulouse

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 (Estimated)

April 15, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

February 20, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

April 15, 2028

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 2, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 9, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

April 13, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 13, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 9, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • RC31/24/0572

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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