Study to Investigate the Effects of Hot Drinks on Nasal Airway Resistance and Symptoms of Common Cold

June 15, 2018 updated by: Cardiff University

A Pilot Study to Investigate the Effects of Hot Drinks on Nasal Airway Resistance and Symptoms of Common Cold

Common cold medicines are often formulated as a hot drink yet there is no evidence in the public domain that presenting the medicine as a hot drink has any impact on symptom severity.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Detailed Description

Common cold medicines are often formulated as a hot drink and usually contain paracetamol and a decongestant such as phenylephrine but it is the 'hot drink' formulation that is often an attraction to the patient in deciding on which formulation of a cold medicine to purchase and use. Hot drinks have been used to relieve the symptoms of acute respiratory infections such as colds and flu for hundreds of years and are found in the traditional medicines of countries throughout the world. The idea of using a hot drink to treat colds and flu appears to originate from a perceived link between exposure to cold and chilling and the onset of a respiratory infection. In order to combat the cold exposure many traditional remedies use a warming and soothing drink or application of a warming ointment . Despite the widespread folklore that hot drinks are an effective treatment for colds and flu, and the use of hot drink formulations for many current common cold medicines, there appears to be no evidence base in the medical literature supporting the efficacy of this common treatment for common cold. The aim of the present study is to obtain new knowledge about the effects of hot drinks on nasal airway resistance and other symptoms of common cold.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

60

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 Locations

    • Wales
      • Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom, CF10 3US
        • Common Cold Centre and Healthcare Clinical Trials

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

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Aged over 18 years.
  • Has given informed consent.
  • Is suffering from common cold/flu like illness
  • Indicates they are suffering from at least three common cold symptoms (runny nose, sneezing, blocked nose, sore throat, cough) and scores at least 2 symptoms as moderate on four point ordinal scale of (0=not present, 1=mild, 2=moderate, 3=severe)

Exclusion Criteria:

Subjects will not be enrolled in the study if any of the following criteria are met:

  • The subject is unwilling to sign the consent form.
  • The subject has a clinically significant cardiovascular, endocrinological, neurological, respiratory, gastrointestinal disease or any other disease that is considered by the investigator as a reason for exclusion.
  • The subject has a severe nasal septal deviation or other condition that could cause nasal obstruction such as the presence of nasal polyps.
  • The subject has had nasal surgery in the past that in the opinion of the investigator may influence symptom scores or nasal airway resistance
  • The subject has ingested any alcohol within the previous 12 hours or more than 4 units of alcohol in the previous 24 hours
  • The subject is a drug or alcohol abuser
  • The subject is taking any prescribed medication other than for contraception
  • The subject has had common cold for more than 7 days
  • The subject has recently taken a common cold medicine that in the opinion of the investigator may influence symptom scores or nasal airway resistance (analgesics, nasal decongestants, cough medicines)
  • The subject has ingested any hot food or drink within the previous hour

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: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Change in nasal conductance of airflow from before the drink to immediately after the drink
Time Frame: prospective
prospective

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Exploratory analysis will also be made to investigate the relationship between objective measures of nasal airflow and the symptoms of common cold.
Time Frame: prospective
prospective

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Ron Eccles, D.Sc, Common Cold Centre and Healthcare Clinical Trials, Cardiff University, UK

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

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

September 1, 2007

Primary Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2007

Study Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2007

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 2, 2007

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 2, 2007

First Posted (Estimate)

July 3, 2007

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 19, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 15, 2018

Last Verified

June 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

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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