A randomised controlled trial of high flow versus oxygen versus control in African children with severe pneumonia
| ISRCTN | ISRCTN15622505 |
|---|---|
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN15622505 |
| ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT) | Nil known |
| Clinical Trials Information System (CTIS) | Nil known |
| Protocol serial number | 15IC3100, 203077/Z/16/Z |
| Sponsor | Imperial College, London (UK) |
| Funder | Joint Global Health Trials scheme (Medical Research Council, Department for International Development and Wellcome Trust) |
- Submission date
- 13/02/2016
- Registration date
- 20/02/2016
- Last edited
- 02/07/2025
- Recruitment status
- No longer recruiting
- Overall study status
- Completed
- Condition category
- Infections and Infestations
Plain English summary of protocol
Background and study aims
Although giving oxygen is a basic element of hospital care, this treatment is costly and supplies are inadequate and erratic in African hospitals. The aim of this study is to identify which children would benefit from receiving oxygen and what would be the best delivery method.
Who can participate?
Children aged between 28 days and 12 years with a history of respiratory illness, hypoxia (lack of adequate oxygen supply) and signs of severe pneumonia (lung inflammation).
What does the study involve?
This study examines whether or not giving oxygen improves patient outcomes. For children with hypoxia, it is not certain what the best level to provide oxygen is and whether this results in a better outcome. The children with less severe hypoxia are randomly allocated to either receive oxygen or not. The children with more severe hypoxia all receive oxygen as we are more confident about the benefits of oxygen in this group. The children receiving oxygen are randomly allocated to receive oxygen either at a higher flow or at a lower flow (routine care). High flow oxygen provides extra pressure to the airways to prevent them from collapsing after every exhale. This helps reduce the effort of breathing, which is vital when lung infections can often lead to respiratory exhaustion and ultimately respiratory failure in critically sick children with limited access to relevant life support such as mechanical ventilation (the majority of hospitals in Africa).
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
The direct benefits to the child and/or family include:
1. Closer observation during the first 48 hours of admission, which, as a result, allows doctors and nurses to make important changes to the child’s treatment during in-hospital admission.
2. All routine non-trial medications required by the hospital to treat the child will be made available (when unavailable parents have to resort to sourcing these privately). All blood tests will be covered by the trial.
3. Reimbursement for transport cost after discharge and for follow up visits plus any treatment costs required during the visits will be made. Snacks and drinks will be provided at each follow up visit.
High flow is an accepted strategy in the management of children with respiratory failure in a multitude of countries, with few reports that it is unacceptable, so the risks of harm from this strategy are known and are extremely low.
Where is the study run from?
1. Coast Provincial General Hospital, Mombasa (Kenya)
2. KEMRI Wellcome Trust Programme (Kenya)
3. Mulago Hospital (Uganda)
4. Mbale Regional Referral Hospital (Uganda)
5. Soroti Regional Referral Hospital (Uganda)
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
December 2016 to November 2019
Who is funding the study?
Joint Global Health Trials scheme (Medical Research Council, Department for International Development and Wellcome Trust)
Who is the main contact?
1. Prof. Kathryn Maitland (k.maitland@imperial.ac.uk)
2. Dr Hellen Mnjalla (HMnjalla@kemri-wellcome.org)
(updated 10/06/2020, previously: 2. Mr Ayub Mpoya (AMpoya@kemri-wellcome.org))
Contact information
Scientific
Wellcome Centre for Clinical Tropical Medicine
Room 232, 2nd Floor, Medical School Building
St Mary's Campus
Norfolk Place
London
W2 1PG
United Kingdom
 ORCID ID |
0000-0002-0007-0645 |
|---|---|
| Phone | +44 (0)20 7594 3891 |
| k.maitland@imperial.ac.uk |
Public
KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme
Clinical Trials Facility
Kilifi
PO Box 230
Kenya
| Phone | +254 (0)417 522 063 |
|---|---|
| HMnjalla@kemri-wellcome.org |
Study information
| Primary study design | Interventional |
|---|---|
| Study design | Open multicentre fractional factorial randomized controlled trial |
| Secondary study design | Randomised controlled trial |
| Study type | Participant information sheet |
| Scientific title | Children’s Oxygen Administration Strategies Trial (COAST): a randomised controlled trial of high flow versus oxygen versus control in African children with severe pneumonia |
| Study acronym | COAST |
| Study objectives | 1. To establish whether liberal oxygenation for SaO2 ≥80% will decrease mortality (at 48 hours and up to 28 days) compared with a strategy that includes permissive hypoxia (usual care) 2. To establish whether use of high flow oxygen delivery will decrease mortality (at 48 hours and up to 28 days) compared with low flow oxygen delivery (usual care) |
| Ethics approval(s) | 1. Imperial College, Research Ethics Committee, London, 18/08/2016, ref: 15IC3100 2. Faculty of Medicine, Research Ethics Committee Makerere University, Uganda, 29/02/2016, ref: 2016-030 3. KEMRI, Nairobi, Kenya, 31/10/2016, ref: KEMRI/RES/7/3/1 |
| Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied | Severe pneumonia in African children |
| Intervention | The trial has two strata: Stratum 1: severe hypoxia, SaO2 <80%); and Stratum 2: hypoxia SaO2 ≥80% and <92%). Children in Stratum 1 (2-arm, 1:1 ratio) will all receive oxygen and randomisation will allocate participants to one of two methods of oxygen delivery: 1. High flow oxygen delivery 2. Low flow (usual practice) oxygen delivery Children in Stratum 2 (3-arm, 2:1:1 ratio) will be allocated to: 1. Permissive hypoxia (no immediate oxygen): control 2. High flow oxygen delivery 3. Low flow oxygen delivery The trial treatment period will last for a maximum of 48-hours post randomisation. After this time point, the participant will switch to usual care (standard clinical management). For children receiving oxygen delivered by high flow oxygen, at 48 hours, if oxygen is still required (i.e. failure to wean into room air) at this point, then the child will be switched to oxygen delivery by low flow (i.e. standard of care). During the 0-48 hour period, if a child is unable to tolerate high flow oxygen (indicated by a poor modified Comfort B (Behaviour) Scale score) and if oxygen is still required (i.e. failure to wean into room air), then the child will be switched to oxygen delivery by low flow (i.e. standard of care). If oxygen is discontinued before 48 hours e.g. hypoxia is resolved (SaO2 ≥92% measured continuously over 30 minutes) then they will switch to usual care (standard clinical management) following a successful trial of oxygen weaning. All participants will be reassessed clinically at 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 24 and 48 hours post-randomisation, and twice daily thereafter until discharged from hospital. All participants will then be seen at 4 weeks, and for those with suspected neurological sequelae an additional review will be done at 3 months post-randomisation. Any patient not returning for a study visit will be traced for vital status ascertainment (consent will be sought for this at recruitment). |
| Intervention type | Mixed |
| Primary outcome measure(s) |
Mortality at 48 hours post-randomisation |
| Key secondary outcome measure(s) |
1. Treatment failure at 48 hours |
| Completion date | 28/02/2020 |
Eligibility
| Participant type(s) | Patient |
|---|---|
| Age group | Child |
| Lower age limit | 28 Days |
| Upper age limit | 12 Years |
| Sex | All |
| Target sample size at registration | 4200 |
| Total final enrolment | 1852 |
| Key inclusion criteria | 1. Aged between 28 days to 12 years 2. History of respiratory illness (cough, upper respiratory tract symptom or any respiratory symptoms, e.g. rapid breathing or increase work of breathing) 3. Hypoxia (pulse oximetry reading of SaO2 <92% recorded in room air over 5 minutes) 4. Plus any one of the following signs of severe pneumonia (from 2013 WHO clinical definitions for pneumonia): 4.1. Sign of respiratory distress (any one of): 4.1.1. Severe lower chest wall in-drawing 4.1.2. Use of auxiliary muscles 4.1.3. Head nodding 4.1.4. Inability to feed because of respiratory problems 4.2. Suspected pneumonia 4.2.1. Fast breathing: 4.2.1.1. Age 2–11 months: ≥ 50/minute 4.2.1.2. Age 1–5 years: ≥ 40/minute 4.2.1.3. Age 5-12 years ≥ 30/minute 4.2.2. Chest auscultation signs: 4.2.2.1. Decreased breath sounds 4.2.2.2. Bronchial breath sounds 4.2.2.3. Crackles 4.2.2.4. Abnormal vocal resonance (decreased over a pleural effusion or empyema, increased over lobar consolidation) 4.2.2.5. Pleural rub 4.3. Signs of pneumonia with a general danger sign: 4.3.1. Inability to breastfeed or drink 4.3.2. Lethargy or unconscious 4.3.3. Convulsions |
| Key exclusion criteria | 1. Known uncorrected cyanotic heart disease 2. Assent/consent refusal by parent/carer 3. Previously recruited to COAST 4. Already received oxygen for this episode of illness |
| Date of first enrolment | 01/12/2016 |
| Date of final enrolment | 28/02/2019 |
Locations
Countries of recruitment
- Kenya
- Uganda
Study participating centres
-
Kenya
PO Box 230
Kilifi
-
Kenya
Makerere University
PO Box 7072
Kampala
-
Uganda
PO Box 921
Mbale
-
Uganda
Soroti
-
Uganda
Uganda
Results and Publications
| Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share | No |
|---|---|
| IPD sharing plan summary | Data sharing statement to be made available at a later date |
| IPD sharing plan | The data sharing plans for the current study are unknown and will be made available at a later date. |
Study outputs
| Output type | Details | Date created | Date added | Peer reviewed? | Patient-facing? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Results article | 01/05/2021 | 06/07/2021 | Yes | No | |
| Results article | 01/07/2025 | 02/07/2025 | Yes | No | |
| Protocol article | protocol | 09/01/2018 | Yes | No | |
| Participant information sheet | Participant information sheet | 11/11/2025 | 11/11/2025 | No | Yes |
Editorial Notes
02/07/2025: Publication reference added.
06/07/2021: The following changes have been made:
1. Publication reference added.
2. The final enrolment number has been added from the reference.
23/09/2020: Internal review.
10/06/2020: The following changes were made to the trial record:
1. The public contact was changed.
2. The trial participating centre Jinja Regional Referral Hospital, Uganda was added.
3. The intention to publish date was changed from 30/11/2022 to 30/08/2020.
4. Study stopped on 28/02/2020 due to feasibility.
5. The overall end date was changed from 30/11/2021 to 28/02/2020.
17/04/2020: The recruitment end date has been changed from 01/12/2020 to 28/02/2019.
08/01/2019: The following changes have been made:
1. The recruitment end date has been updated from 01/12/2018 to 01/12/2020.
2. The overall trial end date has been updated from 30/11/2019 to 30/11/2021.
3. The intention to publish date has been updated from 30/11/2020 to 30/11/2022.
25/10/2017: IPD sharing statement added.
24/10/2017: Publication reference added.
14/11/2016: Democratic Republic of Congo was removed from the countries of recruitment.
