June 23, 2013

Investigating the effectiveness of the Mediterranean diet in pregnant women for the primary prevention of asthma and allergy in high-risk infants: protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial

Open Access
Study protocolInvestigating the effectiveness of the Mediterranean diet in pregnant women for the primary prevention of asthma and allergy in high-risk infants: protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial
Dean A Sewell1*Victoria S Hammersley1Graham Devereux2Ann Robertson3Andrew Stoddart4Chris Weir5Allison Worth6 and Aziz Sheikh6
1School of Life Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Riccarton, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK
2Public Health Nutrition Research Group, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, UK
3Centre for Population Health Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, UK
4Edinburgh Health Services Research Unit/Edinburgh Clinical Trials Unit, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, UK
5MRC Hub for Trials Methodology Research, Centre for Population Health Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, UK
6Allergy and Respiratory Research Group, Centre for Population Health Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, UK
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Trials 2013, 14:173 doi:10.1186/1745-6215-14-173

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at:http://www.trialsjournal.com/content/14/1/173

Received:26 November 2012
Accepted:23 May 2013
Published:14 June 2013
© 2013 Sewell et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Background

Over recent decades there has been a substantial increase in asthma and allergic disease especially in children. Given the high prevalence, and the associated high disease burden and costs, there is a need to identify effective strategies for the primary prevention of asthma and allergy. A recent systematic review of the literature found strong supportive epidemiological evidence for a protective role of the Mediterranean diet, which now needs to be confirmed through formal experimental studies. This pilot trial in pregnant women aims to establish recruitment, retention and acceptability of a dietary intervention, and to assess the likely impact of the intervention on adherence to a Mediterranean diet during pregnancy.

Methods/Design

This study was a pilot, two-arm, randomised controlled trial in a sample population of pregnant women at high risk of having a child who will develop asthma or allergic disease.

Discussion

The work ultimately aims to contribute to improving health outcomes through seeking to reduce the incidence of asthma and allergic problems. This pilot trial will prove invaluable in informing the subsequent planned large-scale, parallel group, randomised controlled trial.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01634516
Keywords: 
Allergy; Asthma; Mediterranean diet; Pregnancy

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