Childhood Asthma Reduction Study

Asthma is the most prevalent chronic childhood condition and is the most frequent cause of hospitalization among children. There are about 6.7 million children in the U.S. who currently have asthma, and nearly two of every three of these children had at least one attack in the past 12 months. Evidence suggests that exposure to cockroach allergen might be the most important risk factor for asthma in inner-city households. An environmental intervention targeting only cockroach allergen could potentially provide cost savings in a public health program over high cost multi-component interventions, if it could be shown to reduce asthma morbidity.

The primary objective of the Childhood Asthma REduction Study (CARES) is to evaluate the effectiveness of a novel cockroach eradication method, shown in prior studies to drastically decrease cockroach allergen levels, in reducing asthma morbidity in children with moderate to severe asthma who are both allergic and exposed to cockroach allergen. Additionally, the study will characterize relationships between cockroach infestation and other environmental allergen exposures, and asthma morbidity, as well as consider dynamic relationships between cockroach counts and observed allergen reductions over time; and use study data to identify mechanisms such as cleaning behaviors that may influence those relationships.

These objectives will be addressed through a prospective, randomized controlled, multi-site intervention trial in which 414 eligible children age 5 to 14 years who live in households with a confirmed trap count of 30 or more cockroaches over a 3-day period, are randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups. Treatment will be implemented at multiple intervals in the homes of children assigned to the intervention group. Children in both the intervention and control groups will receive clinical evaluations for asthma, home assessments of allergen exposures, educational materials on allergen exposures and asthma, and information on study results. Following 12-months of active data collection, the extermination treatment will be made available to the homes of children in the control group. The target sample size is 372 participants completing the study, equally divided into the two arms. Home environmental assessments following the enrollment visit will take place at enrollment, 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. Clinical assessments will also be conducted in the home at enrollment and the 12-month visit. Primary outcome data will be collected during scheduled follow up phone calls every two months.