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RecruitingNCT06946264Updated May 8, 2026

Characterization of Bronchodilator Response in Children With Bronchiolitis Using Phenotypic and Genotypic Features

A Phase 3 interventional study of Albuterol Sulfate, 2.5 Mg/3 mL (0.083%) Inhalation Solution and Sodium Chloride 0.9% Inhl 3Ml in Bronchiolitis and Bronchodilator Agents, sponsored by Nemours Children's Clinic. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 3 Months to 24 Months. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-05-08.

Sponsored by Nemours Children's Clinic · Phase 3, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 2 years 9 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Jul 2022, registered Apr 2025).
  • Started Jul 2022; still recruiting 4 years 4 months later.
Phase
Phase 3
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
400
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
3 Months to 24 Months
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Bronchiolitis is the leading cause of pediatric morbidity and healthcare costs. Despite the commonplace use of bronchodilator treatments, like albuterol, in conditions like asthma, their efficacy in bronchiolitis remains controversial due to the heterogeneity in patient response. Although studies indicate that bronchodilators do not enhance outcomes in bronchiolitis, meta-analyses can obscure the heterogeneity of treatment effects. While bronchodilator response genetics have not been explored in bronchiolitis, treatment effectiveness variations often depend on genomic factors. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have linked genetic variants with bronchodilator response and outcomes in childhood asthma, suggesting a bronchodilator-responsive genotype. This proposal aims to extend this paradigm to bronchiolitis, addressing the gap in knowledge where GWAS and clinical characteristics intersect. The proposed study's objective is to characterize phenotypic and genotypic variations of children with bronchiolitis and their association with bronchodilator response. We hypothesize that children with bronchiolitis who exhibit clinical and historical characteristics associated with atopy and specific physical findings have genetic variants linked to bronchodilator response. To achieve this, we propose to (Aim 1) define airway responsiveness to bronchodilator treatment in children with bronchiolitis using the change in respiratory score, (Aim 2a) identify the associations between candidate genetic variants and bronchodilator response among children with bronchiolitis, and (Aim 2b) determine the associations between candidate genetic variants and clinical patient data to identify bronchodilator-responsive children with bronchiolitis. A prospective, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of a single albuterol dose in children aged 3 to 24 months presenting with bronchiolitis to the emergency department will be conducted to achieve these aims. Patient information and respiratory assessment outcomes will be collected before and after intervention. Blood, urine, DNA buccal swabs, and nasopharyngeal swabs will also be collected. Completion of these aims will result in a novel clinical prediction model for bronchodilator response determination in bronchiolitis, integrating clinical, physical, and genetic data. Furthermore, this research supports the candidates' career development goals of advancing training in clinical trial research design and execution and becoming an expert in clinical and translational methods to enhance pediatric emergency department health and outcomes. Ultimately, this work will inform an R01 application to validate an evidence-based prediction rule for identifying bronchodilator-responsive children with bronchiolitis through a multi-center emergency medicine research network, optimizing therapeutic approaches, and reducing resource use in those with a low likelihood of bronchodilator response.

02

Conditions studied

  • Bronchiolitis
  • Bronchodilator Agents

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Keywords

  • double-blind randomized clinical trial
03

In context

Bronchiolitis

289 studies on the registry are indexed under Bronchiolitis; 51 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 400 is above the median of 100 across 195 interventional studies indexed under Bronchiolitis.

Browse Bronchiolitis studies →

Lead sponsor

Nemours Children's Clinic is the lead sponsor of 130 studies on the registry; 26 are open to participants now.

Of its 9 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 6 (67%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
3 Months to 24 Months
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Children between 3 to 24 months of age
  • Clinical diagnosis of bronchiolitis by the treating provider(s), defined by the American Academy of Pediatrics as a clinical syndrome involving lower respiratory tract symptoms
  • Children who either have no history of prematurity or have a history of prematurity but without associated co-morbidities
  • Emergency department (ED) visit to seek care at Nemours Children's Health-Florida (NCH-FL)

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients previously enrolled in the PI's K12 study
  • Documented history of asthma or reactive airway disease
  • Co-morbidities affecting airway response (e.g., chronic lung disease, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, bronchiectasis, congenital heart disease, immunodeficiency, neurologic condition)
  • Diagnosis of pneumonia by chest radiography
  • Inhaled, nebulized, or oral use within 72 hours of ED evaluation
  • Inhaled, nebulized, or oral bronchodilator administration within 4 hours of ED arrival
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(1)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Corticosteroids (steroids)

Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.

Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 3
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Triple (Participant, Care provider, Investigator)
Enrollment
400 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Bronchodilator arm

    Children with bronchiolitis will be randomized to an intervention arm to be administered as a nebulization (albuterol sulfate 2.5mg/ 3mL inhalation solution). The intervention drug will be placed in a sealed manila envelope, randomized in advance by a Nemours Investigational Drug Pharmacist, and stored in the ED pyxis.

    Drug: Albuterol Sulfate, 2.5 Mg/3 mL (0.083%) Inhalation Solution

  • Placebo comparator
    Normal saline arm

    Children with bronchiolitis will be randomized to an intervention arm to be administered as a nebulization (sodium chloride 0.9%/ 3mL inhalation solution). The intervention drug will be placed in a sealed manila envelope, randomized in advance by a Nemours Investigational Drug Pharmacist, and stored in the ED pyxis.

    Drug: Sodium Chloride 0.9% Inhl 3Ml

Interventions

  • DrugAlbuterol Sulfate, 2.5 Mg/3 mL (0.083%) Inhalation Solution

    Drug page: Albuterol

    Children with bronchiolitis will be randomized to an intervention arm to be administered as a nebulization (albuterol sulfate 2.5mg/ 3mL inhalation solution). The intervention drug will be placed in a sealed manila envelope, randomized in advance by a Nemours Investigational Drug Pharmacist, and stored in the ED pyxis.

  • DrugSodium Chloride 0.9% Inhl 3Ml

    Children with bronchiolitis will be randomized to an intervention arm to be administered as a nebulization (sodium chloride 0.9% 3mL inhalation solution). The intervention drug will be placed in a sealed manila envelope, randomized in advance by a Nemours Investigational Drug Pharmacist, and stored in the ED pyxis.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Minimum Clinically Important Difference (Aim 1)

    Identify the minimum clinically important difference (MCID) in the modified Tal score (MTS) in children with bronchiolitis from parents/ caregivers and treating providers' perceived improvement in respiratory response. The minimum clinically important difference (MCID) is a 15-point scale, ranging from -7 (very much worse) to +7 (very much improved), as assessed by responses from the caregiver(s) and the treating provider(s). A response of +1 to +2 will be interpreted as a "small" perceived improvement in respiratory function. The modified Tal score (MTS) includes respiratory parameters documented as part of the ED standard of care. The MTS score ranges from 0 to 12 points, with higher scores indicating greater respiratory distress.

    Time frame: Immediately after the intervention

  2. Candidate genetic variants (Aim 2)

    Identify candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rank-ordered by the strength of their association with the modified Tal score (delta) respiratory score based on an odds ratio (dichotomous response) or a beta coefficient (continuous response) and filtered by adjusted p-value.

    Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 year

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
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References and documents

Publications

  • McCulloh RJ, Smitherman SE, Koehn KL, Alverson BK. Assessing the impact of national guidelines on the management of children hospitalized for acute bronchiolitis. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2014 Jul;49(7):688-94. doi: 10.1002/ppul.22835. Epub 2013 Jul 19. PubMed 23868897 ↗
  • Knapp JF, Simon SD, Sharma V. Variation and trends in ED use of radiographs for asthma, bronchiolitis, and croup in children. Pediatrics. 2013 Aug;132(2):245-52. doi: 10.1542/peds.2012-2830. Epub 2013 Jul 22. PubMed 23878045 ↗
  • Willson DF, Horn SD, Hendley JO, Smout R, Gassaway J. Effect of practice variation on resource utilization in infants hospitalized for viral lower respiratory illness. Pediatrics. 2001 Oct;108(4):851-5. doi: 10.1542/peds.108.4.851. PubMed 11581435 ↗
  • Gong C, Byczkowski T, McAneney C, Goyal MK, Florin TA. Emergency Department Management of Bronchiolitis in the United States. Pediatr Emerg Care. 2019 May;35(5):323-329. doi: 10.1097/PEC.0000000000001145. PubMed 28441240 ↗
  • Viswanathan M, King VJ, Bordley C, Honeycutt AA, Wittenborn J, Jackman AM, Sutton SF, Lohr KN. Management of bronchiolitis in infants and children. Evid Rep Technol Assess (Summ). 2003 Jan;(69):1-5. No abstract available. PubMed 12624885 ↗
  • Gadomski AM, Scribani MB. Bronchodilators for bronchiolitis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014 Jun 17;2014(6):CD001266. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD001266.pub4. PubMed 24937099 ↗
  • Ralston SL, Lieberthal AS, Meissner HC, Alverson BK, Baley JE, Gadomski AM, Johnson DW, Light MJ, Maraqa NF, Mendonca EA, Phelan KJ, Zorc JJ, Stanko-Lopp D, Brown MA, Nathanson I, Rosenblum E, Sayles S 3rd, Hernandez-Cancio S; American Academy of Pediatrics. Clinical practice guideline: the diagnosis, management, and prevention of bronchiolitis. Pediatrics. 2014 Nov;134(5):e1474-502. doi: 10.1542/peds.2014-2742. PubMed 25349312 ↗
  • Pelletier AJ, Mansbach JM, Camargo CA Jr. Direct medical costs of bronchiolitis hospitalizations in the United States. Pediatrics. 2006 Dec;118(6):2418-23. doi: 10.1542/peds.2006-1193. PubMed 17142527 ↗
  • Hasegawa K, Tsugawa Y, Brown DF, Mansbach JM, Camargo CA Jr. Trends in bronchiolitis hospitalizations in the United States, 2000-2009. Pediatrics. 2013 Jul;132(1):28-36. doi: 10.1542/peds.2012-3877. Epub 2013 Jun 3. PubMed 23733801 ↗
  • Willer RJ, Coon ER, Harrison WN, Ralston SL. Trends in Hospital Costs and Levels of Services Provided for Children With Bronchiolitis Treated in Children's Hospitals. JAMA Netw Open. 2021 Oct 1;4(10):e2129920. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.29920. PubMed 34698848 ↗
  • Keren R, Luan X, Localio R, Hall M, McLeod L, Dai D, Srivastava R; Pediatric Research in Inpatient Settings (PRIS) Network. Prioritization of comparative effectiveness research topics in hospital pediatrics. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2012 Dec;166(12):1155-64. doi: 10.1001/archpediatrics.2012.1266. PubMed 23027409 ↗
  • Meissner HC. Viral Bronchiolitis in Children. N Engl J Med. 2016 Jan 7;374(1):62-72. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra1413456. No abstract available. PubMed 26735994 ↗
  • Fujiogi M, Goto T, Yasunaga H, Fujishiro J, Mansbach JM, Camargo CA Jr, Hasegawa K. Trends in Bronchiolitis Hospitalizations in the United States: 2000-2016. Pediatrics. 2019 Dec;144(6):e20192614. doi: 10.1542/peds.2019-2614. Epub 2019 Nov 7. PubMed 31699829 ↗

Study documents

PDFs hosted by the registry, ClinicalTrials.gov.

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Yes — Clinical data that will be preserved and shared are demographical data, history of prematurity, immunizations, history of corticosteroid use, past medical history, family history, environmental exposure, pulmonary history, randomized drug administered, and physical exam data, among other data pertinent to the study. Clinical data from data collection forms will be preserved and shared. Genomic data that will be preserved and shared will include variant calls from genotyping microarrays with imputation. Clinical data sets will be submitted to the Biologic Specimen and Data Repository Information Coordinating Center (BioLINCC) in .CSV format. Genomic data sets will be submitted to the Database of Genotypes and Phenotypes (dbGaP, NCBI, NIH) in CRAM, and VCF format.

Supporting information: Clinical study report

Time frame: The repository will make the data accessible within 2 years of the last patient's enrollment or no later than the date of publication, whichever is sooner.

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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on May 8, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06946264
Responsible party
Andrea Rivera-Sepulveda (Associate Professor, Nemours Children's Clinic) — Principal investigator
First posted
Apr 27, 2025
Start date
Jul 8, 2022
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2029 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 31, 2030 (estimated)
Last update
May 8, 2026

Study contacts

Andrea Rivera-Sepulveda, MD, MSc
Contact
andrea.rivera-sepulveda@nemours.org
407-489-6847

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
Yes
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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Studies of the drug tested here: Albuterol

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