Exhaled breath condensate from healthy infants

What's the study about?

Babies who are born very preterm often develop chronic lung disease. Researchers would like to know more about what causes this chronic lung disease and how to treat it. One way we can know more about what is happening in the lungs is to measure the air the babies breathe out. When the babies breathe into a cold tube, the air condenses into droplets which we can collect and analyse for different molecules. We call the condensed air ‘exhaled breath condensate’. We have collected exhaled breath condensate samples from preterm babies. However, we do not have any exhaled breath condensate samples from healthy babies to compare them to. If we know the differences between the lungs of healthy babies and preterm babies, we can help find the best treatment for their lung disease.

Our project aims to:

Collect and measure exhaled breath condensate samples from healthy babies
Compare the samples of exhaled breath condensate from healthy babies to those from preterm babies.

This way, we can identify which molecules in exhaled breath condensate predict lung disease in babies who were born preterm. In future, this will help researchers find the best treatment for preterm babies with chronic lung disease.

Who can take part?

We're looking for babies who fit the following criteria:

Currently between 9-18 months of age
Born at term (on or after 37 weeks’ gestation)

What would participation involve?

Collection of basic information including your baby’s age, gender, general health and history of any breathing problems.
Collection of an exhaled breath condensate sample from your baby. The exhaled breath condensate will be collected at a single study visit during a time when your baby will be in a deep sleep. For most babies this is likely to be in the evening, but could also be during their daytime nap. The study visit can occur either in your home or at a mutually convenient location.
A soft face mask will be gently placed over your baby’s nose and mouth when they are sleeping. Your baby will be able to breathe normally through the mask.
The face mask is connected to a very cold tube. As your baby’s breath passes through the tube it is turned into liquid droplets. It takes approximately 20 minutes of breathing through the mask to collect enough liquid to analyze in the laboratory.
If your baby is already asleep, the entire visit should take no longer than 30 minutes.