Respiratory

More than 50 percent of Australian infants will be affected by some kind of respiratory virus in their first year of life. By the age of two this figure will have almost doubled to a staggering 95 percent.

There's nothing more distressing than seeing a child who cannot breathe, especially when the cause of the child's illness can't be determined. In the last year, nearly 400 children were admitted to the Royal Children’s Hospital to be treated for serious illnesses at the Queensland Children’s Respiratory Centre and over 1,000 children throughout Queensland visited the Royal Children’s Hospital outpatient clinics for check ups and monitoring of various respiratory illnesses such as severe asthma, cystic fibrosis, bronchiolitis, croup and pneumonia.

How does the RCH Help?

The Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation has committed to investing almost $5 million over the next five years to fund the Respiratory Research Program at the Royal Children’s Hospital. Funds will support paediatric research into illnesses such as asthma, cystic fibrosis and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Our Research Breakthroughs

Asthma is one of the most common respiratory illnesses affecting almost one in six Australian children. Children with mild to moderate asthma attacks are often prescribed a type of medication called steroids, to help reduce the inflammation in their airways.

A three year study, funded by the Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation found that using three days of oral steroids is just as effective as five days of oral steroids for children having mild to moderate asthma attacks. The findings will help doctors minimise the medication they need to provide to children having asthma attacks.

A study funded by Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation found that the size of the particles in cough aerosols from patients with cystic fibrosis were in the range small enough to be inhaled which is important information that will help with the development of evidence based infection control guidelines.

Our hope in 2010-11 and beyond is:

• to carry on our work into cystic fibrosis to continue making advancements that extend the lives of children living with this life-threatening condition
• to launch a new research project to better understand the causes of childhood asthma which is the most widespread chronic health problem in Australia, affecting one in four children
• to better understand the role of environmental factors, such as cigarette smoke and other allergens, on the respiratory health of children, and identify how to intervene early to reduce or halt the respiratory chain reaction they set off in children

Read more about our respiratory research in our fact sheet.