# Mentored patient-oriented research in preschool wheezing disorders

> **NIH NIH K24** · EMORY UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $124,954

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Wheezing is a highly prevalent symptom among preschool children that is notoriously difficult to treat. While
the factors associated with wheezing are complex, it is also recognized that preschool children are a
heterogeneous group, with differing symptom profiles that may contribute to differing clinical outcomes and
disease trajectories. However, symptom science is quite limited in preschool children and has focused
primarily on respiratory symptoms in isolation, ignoring other physical symptoms and symptoms of mental and
social health in caregivers that are important to overall functional status and quality of life. To date, there has
been no attempt to identify or study symptom clusters (defined as two or more concurrent symptoms
independent of other clusters) in preschool children with recurrent wheezing. This K24 application entitled
“Mentored Patient-Oriented Research in Preschool Wheezing Disorders” seeks five years of support for
protected time to expand the Principal Investigator’s mentoring activities, promote her career development and
provide momentum to advance her research on symptom clustering in preschool children with recurrent
wheezing. The Principal Investigator has built an extensive research program on preschool wheezing in an
environment with unparalleled infrastructure, resources and collaborators. Career Development goals are to
ensure that the Principal Investigator will be provided sufficient time for mentoring and patient-oriented clinical
research activities. The award will also allow the Principal Investigator to further her education in statistical
methods and study design, molecular biology, and precision medicine to help her expand her patient-oriented
research program. This training will also facilitate the design of interventions to reduce the severity and
incidence of wheezing in young children. The overarching research hypothesis is that symptom clusters and
their associated inflammatory pathways predict clinical outcomes in preschool children age 12-59 months with
recurrent wheezing. Specific aims are to determine whether symptom cluster predicts exacerbation (primary
outcome) and quality of life (secondary outcome) and to utilize next-generation sequencing to identify
pathways underlying symptom clusters and their trajectories. This project addresses innovative questions in
symptom science and may result in identification of novel biomarkers for personalized intervention. Greater
understanding of symptoms underlying morbidity will also help tackle a critical public health problem
(wheezing) that affects a growing proportion of children in the United States.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10458136
- **Project number:** 5K24NR018866-03
- **Recipient organization:** EMORY UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Anne Mentro Fitzpatrick
- **Activity code:** K24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $124,954
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-09-01 → 2025-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10458136

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10458136, Mentored patient-oriented research in preschool wheezing disorders (5K24NR018866-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10458136. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*