| June 2025 |
Thank you for taking part in the study and welcome to your summer 2025 newsletter.
In this issue:
- Study update
- Shape the future research into food allergy in children
- What is a process evaluation?
- Remember to complete all your study questionnaires
Study update – over 450 children taking part!
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You are the member of a very special club of over 450 families taking part in the TIGER study.
We are nearing the end of recruitment and will hopefully recruit our last participant before the end of August. We then have to follow the last person to join the study up until May 2026. We’re hoping to report the results in autumn/winter 2026/27. |
Shape the future research into food allergy in children
We are asking parents and carers of children with food allergy to help decide the top 10 questions for future research into food allergy in children.
Vote by 31 July and share it the link www.bristol.ac.uk/food-allergy-children with anyone else affected by the condition. Thank you!
Update to the Good Eczema Care Leaflet
Because of reports of eye injuries linked to the use of Epimax ointment, the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) issued some guidance to doctors not to prescribe Epimax Ointment and Epimax Paraffin-Free Ointment for use on the face.
Although this problem appears to be specific to the products, we taken changed our leaflet to read: “Moisturisers are safe and can be used all over the body (but be careful to not get in the eyes).”
Remember to complete all your study questionnaires
It may feel like there are a lot of questions, some of which overlap, but they are all there for a reason.
The most important questions to answer are those asked every month under the heading “Your child’s eczema
CONTROL”.
What is a process evaluation?
You may have been invited to speak to one of the researchers on the team (Catherine, Mio or Gaby) about your experience of taking part in the study. This is part of a process evaluation, which is a “study within a study” that will help us understand the findings of the main trial. You can read more about it on our website, along with other blogs by Emily, one of the research nurses, and Hannah, the parent on our study group
| Thank you for reading this newsletter
You can follow progress between newsletters on Facebook and Blue Sky. Please do read and share with others. There’s lots of information about the study on our website (www.bristol.ac.uk/tiger-study), including a video summary, and a copy of the participant information leaflet. For any unanswered questions, tiger-study@bristol.ac.uk or 0117 455 3039.
University of Bristol, 1-5 Whiteladies Rd, Bristol BS8 1NU.
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| March 2025 |
Welcome to the spring 2025 newsletter for everyone taking part in our Trial of food allergy (IgE) tests for Eczema Relief.
Thank you for taking part
In this issue:
- Study update
- Spotlight on participant questionnaires, with Irsa
- Eczema support
- Spread the word
Study update – over 360 children taking part!
On last count, children are being recruited from 164 GP surgeries across North Somerset, Bristol, South Gloucestershire, Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Cheshire, and Greater Manchester. These practices have sent over 5800 invitation letters.
Over 172 families have reached the end of their time in the study (9 months). We’ve have 5 months left to reach our target of 493! Thank you for being part of the study.
Spotlight on: Irsa, Research Nurse in Manchester
“Hi, I’m Irsa! You may have spoken to me on the phone while completing your child’s consent for the study, where I also asked important questions about your child’s eczema and diet. You might see me at your baseline appointment, and you’ll likely hear from me again as I follow up on those all-important questionnaires!
My role is crucial at every step of the trial, ensuring we gather accurate and complete information to help make this research as successful as possible. Your timely responses to these questionnaires make our work much easier and help keep the study on track—thank you for your support!
It may feel like there are a lot of questions, some of which overlap, but they are all there for a reason.
The most important questions to answer are those asked every month under the heading “Your child’s eczema CONTROL”. These ask about how well controlled your child’s eczema has been over the previous week. The other regular questions ask about eczema symptoms, use of eczema treatments, and what your child is eating.
Occasionally there are questions about use of health care services, time off nursery/work and your child’s quality of life. We know that these can be harder to answer but they also help us to work out whether food allergy testing is worthwhile.
More than 9 in 10 have completed the eczema control questions, which is great! However, less people have completed the other questions, so please do try and get to those, if you can. We understand that finding time to answer our questions might be difficult, but we really need you to undertake this final step to achieve the scientific value of the study and make sure your involvement is worthwhile.
We’ll analyse the results of all the questionnaires once the final participant has been followed-up. What we do know from the interviews is that, just like doctors, parent’s views on any link between diet and eczema vary. Because of the lack of research in the area, people get mixed messages, which adds to the confusion. That’s why taking part in TIGER is so exciting! At the end of the study, you will be among the first in the world to find out whether food allergy tests have a role to play in looking after eczema or not.
If you are unsure of anything or need help to complete any of the questions, please contact us by emailing tiger-study@bristol.ac.uk or calling 0117 455 3039.”