Oxygen Therapy for Children With Moderate Hypoxemia in Malawi

NCT ID: NCT06176664

Last Updated: 2024-12-20

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

21 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2024-05-15

Study Completion Date

2024-11-30

Brief Summary

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The goal of this pilot clinical trial is to compare standard of care, low-flow oxygen, and high-flow nasal canula oxygen in pediatric patients aged 1-59 months with pneumonia and an oxygen saturation of 90-93% in Malawi. The main question it aims to answer is:

* Does the protocol for the randomized control trial work well?
* Can the researchers safely conduct the protocol for the trial?

Participants will be randomly assigned to one of the three groups (normal care without oxygen, low-flow oxygen, and high-flow nasal cannula oxygen) and treated with that therapy in the hospital. Researchers will look at the ability to safely conduct each part of the study.

Detailed Description

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Pneumonia is the leading infectious cause of under 5-year-old deaths globally and responsible for \>50% of deaths in Africa. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines low blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) levels (hypoxemia) as 90%. Hypoxemia is identified in 31% of child pneumonia cases in Africa and is a key marker of elevated mortality risk. When children are hypoxemic, the WHO recommends oxygen treatment. Importantly, the WHO threshold of 90% for hypoxemia was based on concerns over limited oxygen supply and hospital over-crowding in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), rather than quality evidence. In most LMICs, low oxygen flow is the mainstay of oxygen delivery. Recently, in high-income settings high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) oxygen has emerged as a safe and effective alternative. HFNC oxygen delivers higher flow warmed, humidified gas via nasal prongs to reverse hypoxemia, and potentially improve outcomes.

Recent evidence challenges whether the WHO \& 90% hypoxemia threshold is optimal for identifying all children at higher risk of mortality in LMICs. One meta-analysis from 13 LMICs reported 3.66-fold-higher odds of death (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.42, 9.47) for children with a SpO2 93%. The investigators research from Malawi and Bangladesh established children with pneumonia and SpO2 between 90-93% (moderate hypoxemia) is common, and, compared to higher SpO2 levels, conveys higher mortality risk. To date, African children with a SpO2 90-93% are not recommended for oxygen treatment. Observational data from Malawi found children with moderate hypoxemia and treated with oxygen had higher survival than those referred with a SpO2 90%. Currently, no randomized trials have determined whether low flow oxygen or HFNC oxygen treatment reduces the mortality of children with moderate hypoxemia (SpO2 90-93%) in African LMICs.

Aim 1: Conduct a pilot open label, three armed, parallel, randomized controlled trial (RCT) comparing standard care, low-flow oxygen, and HFNC oxygen for children with clinical pneumonia and a SpO2 90-93% to determine feasibility of a larger trial. The investigators hypothesize it will be feasible to recruit, randomize, treat, and safely follow-up all participants. Children with SpO2 90-93% will be randomized 1:1:1 to standard care without oxygen (controls), low flow oxygen (intervention #1), or HFNC oxygen (intervention #2). The primary outcome will be feasibility, defined as the proportion of enrolled children with 2 protocol violations. Secondary outcomes include consent refusal, intervention efficacy, participant attrition, and safety.

Aim 2: Determine the prevalence of young Malawian children with a SpO2 90-93% at the designated study hospital. The investigators hypothesize a SpO2 90-93% will be common among children presenting to the trial hospital. The investigators will measure the SpO2 of all children under-five years old (not limited to pneumonia cases) presenting to the hospital 1 week per month over 12-months. Conservatively assuming an average volume of 30 children per day, based on prior data, the investigators will generate 1,400 SpO2 measurements.

Conditions

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Pneumonia

Keywords

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Pneumonia High flow nasal cannula oxygen Oxygen Low and Middle Income Countries pediatrics

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Pilot trial to assess feasibility of the protocol for a three-armed, open-label randomized controlled trial
Primary Study Purpose

OTHER

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

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Standard of Care

Participants will receive pneumonia care per World Health Organization guidelines. If their oxygen saturation falls below 90% after enrollment, they will be treated with low-flow oxygen.

Group Type NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Low-flow Oxygen

Participants will be treated with low-flow oxygen to achieve a goal oxygen saturation above 94%

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Low flow oxygen

Intervention Type DEVICE

Standard nasal cannula oxygen up to 2 liters/minute

High-flow Nasal Cannula Oxygen

Participants will be treated with high-flow nasal cannula oxygen to achieve a goal oxygen saturation above 94%.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

High-flow nasal cannula oxygen

Intervention Type DEVICE

High-flow nasal cannula with heating and humidification up to 2 liters/kilogram/minute

Interventions

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Low flow oxygen

Standard nasal cannula oxygen up to 2 liters/minute

Intervention Type DEVICE

High-flow nasal cannula oxygen

High-flow nasal cannula with heating and humidification up to 2 liters/kilogram/minute

Intervention Type DEVICE

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* 1-59 months of age
* Pneumonia (as defined by the World Health Organization)
* Oxygen saturation 90-93% without oxygen

Exclusion Criteria

* Emergency signs (signs of severe illness as defined by the World Health Organization) including:
* absent or obstructed breathing,
* severe respiratory distress,
* shock,
* decreased mental status,
* convulsions, or
* severe dehydration
Minimum Eligible Age

1 Month

Maximum Eligible Age

59 Months

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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Thrasher Research Fund

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Johns Hopkins University

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

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Eric E McCollom, MD, MPH

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

Locations

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Salima District Hospital

Salima, Central Region, Malawi

Site Status

Countries

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Malawi

References

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Other Identifiers

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IRB00421624

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id