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Children's Health, Respiratory Inflammation and Short-term Air Pollution

NCT07431021 · Queen Mary University of London
In plain English

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About this study
The study will recruit a total of 330 children from 10 primary schools split into two groups: "higher pollution" and "lower pollution" schools. The team shall invite children in years 3 to 6 to take part in the study and consent will be provided by parents following information sheets sent home in school bags and parent evening presentations. After the team have received written permission from parents. The study team will visit the school on two days. On the first day the study team will perform lung health assessment in a dedicated classroom. The assessment will involve, measuring children's height and weight, a breathing test (photo and a snot sample collected by squirting a small bit of saline water up one nostril and catching the snot in a cup. Children will then take part in a PE lesson or a sedentary science lesson in a random order in their school playground while wearing activity monitors - like a Fitbit- to track their physical activity. The session is designed to be just like a typical outdoor science or PE lesson and will be exactly the same at all schools. Air pollution levels in the playground will be monitored during this time. Once the PE lesson has finished the children will perform the same health assessment immediately after the lesson and again on a second day. The team shall compare the change in these scores between higher and lower pollution schools. The breathing tests will tell us if the has been any change in lung health and the snot samples will tell us about the pollution the children have breathed and how their bodies try to fight it. Participating will take about 4 hours total.
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion Criteria: * Attending schools in Central and East London that have been recruited to the study Exclusion Criteria: * Not able to engage with PE lessons on safety grounds, reported by their parents. * Children with learning or physical disabilities sufficient for them to be unable to give informed assent to the study, or to carry out study procedures
Study design
Enrollment target: 330 participants
Allocation: randomized
Masking: none
Age groups: child
Timeline
Starts: 2025-10-20
Estimated completion: 2027-07-01
Last updated: 2026-06-15
Interventions
Behavioral: science lessonBehavioral: PE Lesson
Primary outcomes
  • "Airway resistance" measured by Oscillometry at R5 (Pre-24 hour post exposure)
Sponsor
Queen Mary University of London · other
With: Imperial College London
Contacts & investigators
ContactJames Scales, PhD · contact · j.scales@qmul.ac.uk · +447533897264
ContactAbigail Whitehouse, MD,PhD · contact · a.whitehouse@qmul.ac.uk
InvestigatorJames Scales, PhD · principal_investigator, Queen Mary University London
InvestigatorAbigail Whitehouse, PhD, MD · principal_investigator, QMUL
All locations (1)
Faculty of Medicine and DentistryRecruiting
London, United Kingdom