# Phenotypes and Endotypes of Preschool Wheeze

> **NIH NIH R01** · EMORY UNIVERSITY · 2023 · $478,679

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The prevalence of wheezing in preschool children has increased dramatically over the past three decades,
resulting in a public health crisis. Nearly 50% of all preschool children experience at least one episode of
wheezing before 6 years of age and up to 20% of all preschool children have recurrent wheezing episodes in
early life associated with significant morbidity. Compared to older children, preschool children have twice the
rate of emergency department visits, five times the rate of hospitalizations, and higher costs. Although
preschool children with recurrent wheezing are a heterogeneous group with differing disease outcomes, there
is a paucity of research in this age group and the associated biology of exacerbation and related outcomes in
these children is not understood. Segmentation of preschool children with recurrent wheezing for the purpose
of basic research is therefore one of the main research challenges in pediatric airway research today, since at
present, the clinical course of preschool children with recurrent wheezing remains an enigma that is impossible
to predict. Given our broad goal to advance personalized medicine for all children with respiratory disorders,
we propose a 50-week phenotype-stratified cohort study (N=145) to determine whether phenotypic (i.e.,
clinical) and associated endotypic (i.e., biological) features predict wheeze exacerbation and related outcomes
in preschool children age 12-59 months with a history of recurrent wheezing. We will pursue three aims: 1)
determine whether wheezing phenotype predicts exacerbation occurrence (primary outcome), 2) determine
whether wheezing phenotype predicts episode-free days (EFDs) and response to treatment with systemic
corticosteroids (secondary outcomes), and 3) refine the prediction model for wheeze exacerbation with
endotyping approaches (cytokines, metabolomics and immune cell studies). We hypothesize that a higher
proportion of children with Type-2 (i.e., eosinophilic) inflammatory features will experience an exacerbation
irrespective of viral status, and that these same children will have fewer EFDs, a higher proportion of virus-
associated exacerbations, a greater response to treatment with systemic corticosteroids, and distinguishing
cytokine profiles, plasma metabolomic biomarkers and markers of neutrophil and eosinophil activation and
function. This project involves a multidisciplinary team with a history of collaboration and addresses a key area
in the NINR Strategic Plan: to explore mechanisms underlying symptoms of illness and develop personalized
treatments that address these mechanisms through symptom science research. The study population,
preschool children with recurrent wheezing, is understudied and the knowledge gap is quite large. This project
is ultimately expected to lay groundwork to: 1) refine knowledge of wheeze exacerbation and associated
mechanisms, 2) improve clinical prediction of exacerbation and related outcomes, a...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10553158
- **Project number:** 5R01NR017939-05
- **Recipient organization:** EMORY UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Anne Mentro Fitzpatrick
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $478,679
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-03 → 2025-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10553158

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10553158, Phenotypes and Endotypes of Preschool Wheeze (5R01NR017939-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10553158. Licensed CC0.

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