Overview
The mission of the Division of Asthma Research at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center is to create a central base for research efforts in asthma. Our focus is around Cincinnati Children's, our Cincinnati community and the Tristate region to effect change and ensure the highest standards for asthma care. Our central goal is to improve the health of children with asthma through research. The research efforts focus on individual variations in asthma presentation, treatment response and outcomes. Multiple federally funded studies are ongoing and investigating how asthma develops in early childhood, why asthma attacks occur and which treatments are most effective.
In the Division of Asthma Research, we take a multidisciplinary approach to accomplish our goals. The division includes physicians, scientists, environmental exposure epidemiologists, clinical research coordinators, computer application specialists, biostatisticians, quantitative geneticists, epidemiologists, post-doctoral researchers, database specialists and research assistants.
Asthma affects one in every six children and is the most common childhood chronic disease in Ohio. Last year Cincinnati Children's had nearly 3,000 emergency department visits for asthma and it is the most common reason for pediatric hospital admissions. Improvement in the management of asthma is critical because two-thirds of all children with asthma report at least one attack in the last year. Cincinnati is especially vulnerable to asthma for several reasons, including:
- The high rate of allergies. Cincinnati is rated among the worst cities for allergen pollution in the United States and has been called “allergy alley”.
- There is a strong association with asthma and obesity. Ohio is ranked the 15th most obese state for both children and adults.
- Air pollution contributes to asthma. Cincinnati has several major interstates that traverse the city and a very high density of truck traffic.
Asthma most often has its roots in early childhood. In order to impact the morbidity and mortality associated with asthma, it is critical to focus on children.
Core Value Statement
To improve the health of children with asthma through a combination of clinically relevant research designed to delineate the mechanisms underlying asthma and the biologic basis for individual variations in asthma presentation, treatment response and outcomes.
Goals
Short-term
- To provide an institutional focus and infrastructure for asthma research.
- To bring together clinical and basic investigators with an interest in asthma research.
- To conduct research that integrates scientifically executed clinical practice with clinical, basic and translational research in asthma.
- To facilitate the movement of scientific advances in asthma into clinical settings.
- To educate trainees in asthma research and the integration of asthma research into optimized clinical practice.
Long-term
- To be the international leader in asthma research that advances our understanding of the molecular basis for asthma and asthma phenotypes.
- To develop and refine clinical practices that incorporate molecular tools and biomarkers to aid in the diagnosis, management and treatment of childhood asthma to achieve the most optimal outcomes.
- To train the future leaders in the area of asthma.
