LAVA study for COVID-19 begins in UK
Photo by Ashton Bingham
Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust is conducting the clinical trial The LAVA (Lateral Flow Antigen Validation and Applicability) Study for COVID-19 (LAVA).
Alder Hey Children's Hospital is a children's hospital and NHS foundation trust in West Derby, Liverpool, England.
This is a study which aims to assess the validity and applicability of lateral flow assays (LFAs) which can be used as a point of care test for COVID-19. The study will focus on children admitted to hospital or planned to have a procedure for which they require an anaesthetic. RT-PCR is the current gold standard test for COVID-19, but it usually takes approximately 24-48 hours for a test result to be returned which can slow the clinical care given to a patient and can potentially increase the risk of healthcare worker (HWC) exposure to COVID-19. LFAs are a point of care test which can identify children who have a high viral load of COVID-19 and are performed using a more acceptable method of swabbing for children, just inside the nostril. Using LFA potentially enables the identification of infectious children with COVID-19 to aid with immediate care of patients and limiting HWC and other patients' contact with the virus.
It is planned to include 400 participants.
Actual study start date is November 5, 2020. The researchers expect to complete the study by November 19, 2020.
Acceptability of tes tis the primary outcome measure. A pain score (Wong-Baker) will be used to assess the pain of performing an anterior nasal swab and a nose and throat swab.
The location of the study is as follows (further details can be found here https://ichgcp.net/clinical-trials-registry/NCT04629157) Alder Hey in the Park, Liverpool and Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, Manchester, United Kingdom.
