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Contact the study team using the details below to take part. If there are no contact details below please ask your doctor in the first instance.
Damian Roland, BMBS PhD
07950891367
dr98@leicester.ac.uk
Thomas Williams
Thomas.Christie.Williams@ed.ac.uk
Bronchiolitis
This information is provided directly by researchers, and we recognise that it isn't always easy to understand. We are working with researchers to improve the accessibility of this information. In some summaries, you may come across links to external websites. These websites will have more information to help you better understand the study.
Bronchiolitis is a very common winter disease that normally affects children less than one year of age. It is a common reason for parents and carers to bring their child to an Emergency Department (ED) and the frequent need for hospital admission means that paediatric units are at their capacity each winter.
During the COVID19 pandemic the virus that causes bronchiolitis (Respiratory Syncytial VirusÍľ RSV) disappeared meaning this winter there have been virtually no cases of bronchiolitis in the United Kingdom. This phenomenon has been observed in many other countries around the world. Evidence from Australia suggests as restrictions such as social distancing for COVID19 are relaxed bronchiolitis returns, even in the summer. At the release of lockdown the return has been so dramatic in some areas of Australia the summer time numbers are above a typical winter. There is also evidence it may affect older children up to 2 years of age.
It is likely the Australian experience will be mirrored in the UK. The ability to track, anticipate and respond to a surge in bronchiolitis is important. There is a need to understand:
1. the onset of RSV spread at the earliest opportunity. This is important as some children are at higher risk of hospitalisation, intensive care admission or death if they contract RSVÍľ knowing when to passively immunise these children is a public health priority.
2. whether the population at risk is a wider age range than normal and whether disease severity is greater as these will both effect service planningÍľ
There are currently no existing studies or surveillance systems fully able to address these questions. This study will use staff in Emergency Department to report, in real time, case of bronchiolitis that they see and record essential, but non-identifying, information about them.
In 2022/23 the study evolved from a prospective surveillance study into a genomic analysis study with sites collecting positive respiratory samples for RSV genomic review.
In 2024/25 the study was amended in light of the introduction of the Bivalent Prefusion F Vaccine in Pregnancy in the United Kingdom to undertake a Vaccine Effectiveness study.
The main inclusion criteria remains the same but mothers who would have been eligible for the vaccine, and deliver an infant during the RSV season, were consented to obtain vaccination details so these could be linked to BronchSTART records.
Start dates may differ between countries and research sites. The research team are responsible for keeping the information up-to-date.
The recruitment start and end dates are as follows:
"Williams TC, Marlow R, Hardelid P, Lyttle MD, Lewis KM, Mpamhanga CD, Cunningham S, Roland D; PERUKI. Clinical Impact of Serious Respiratory Disease in Children Under the Age of 2 Years During the 2021-2022 Bronchiolitis Season in England, Scotland, and Ireland. J Infect Dis. 2024 Jul 25;230(1):e111-e120. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiad551."; "39052749"; "Williams TC, Cunningham S, Drysdale SB, Groves H, Iskander D, Liu X, Lyttle MD, Marlow R, Maxwell-Hodkinson A, Mpamhanga CD, O'Hagan S, Sinha I, Swann OV, Waterfield T, Roland D; Paediatric Emergency Research in the UK and Ireland (PERUKI). Update to: Study Pre-protocol for \"BronchStart - The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Timing, Age and Severity of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Emergency Presentations; a Multi-Centre Prospective Observational Cohort Study\". Wellcome Open Res. 2024 Dec 18;6:120. doi: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16778.4. eCollection 2021."; "34458589"; "Roland D, Williams T, Lyttle MD, Marlow R, Hardelid P, Sinha I, Swann O, Maxwell-Hodkinson A, Cunningham S. Features of the transposed seasonality of the 2021 RSV epidemic in the UK and Ireland: analysis of the first 10 000 patients. Arch Dis Child. 2022 Nov;107(11):1062-1063. doi: 10.1136/archdischild-2022-324241. Epub 2022 Sep 2. No abstract available."; "36261149"
You can take part if:
You may not be able to take part if:
This is in the inclusion criteria above
Below are the locations for where you can take part in the trial. Please note that not all sites may be open.
Thomas Williams
Thomas.Christie.Williams@ed.ac.uk
Damian Roland, BMBS PhD
07950891367
dr98@leicester.ac.uk
The study is sponsored by University Hospitals, Leicester and is in collaboration with Respiratory syncytial virus consortium in Europe; Pediatric Emergency Research in the UK and Ireland (PERUKI).
Your feedback is important to us. It will help us improve the quality of the study information on this site. Please answer both questions.
You can print or share the study information with your GP/healthcare provider or contact the research team directly.
