New funding to support improving access to precision asthma care for children

Posted on June 10, 2025

Summary:

SickKids research will explore the diverse factors influencing childhood asthma to support more equitable and effective prevention strategies.

Researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) have been awarded $2 million in funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to investigate precision approaches to reduce childhood asthma risk.

Asthma is one of the most common chronic illnesses in childhood, resulting in long-term health implications and hours spent away from school and work for emergency health-care visits. The condition is more common, and severe, in children who are non-white, female, or from families with fewer financial resources – a group which has typically been overlooked in existing research.

Using the data of over 3,400 diverse Canadian children from birth into adolescence, collected through the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) Study, the project will examine how race, ethnicity, gender and family circumstances interact with the microbiome to influence a child’s chance of developing asthma, and its severity.

Dr. Padmaja Subbarao

Together with research leads at the University of British Columbia, University of Manitoba, and Queen’s University, the project aims to pave the way for more inclusive and individualized treatment approaches for children with asthma. This funding was part of a $38.1 million investment through the Embracing Diversity to Achieve Precision & Health Equity team grants.

For study co-lead Dr. Padmaja Subbarao, Senior Scientist in the Translational Medicine program, Staff Respirologist and Associate Chief of Clinical Research at SickKids, this project is at the natural intersection of her work as Co-Director of the CHILD Study and Co-Lead of Precision Child Health, a movement at SickKids to provide individualized care that attends to the unique characteristics of each child.

“Asthma risk can vary based on several biological and environmental factors. Precision Child Health is helping us understand how these factors interact and point to more equitable and effective prevention strategies,” says Subbarao. “By tailoring care to the unique needs of each child, we can ultimately improve outcomes for all children with asthma.”