Automated digital stethoscope to guide antibiotic use for young children with pneumonia in Bangladesh
The BLAAST Trial: Bangladesh Lung Auscultation AI for Antibiotic Stewardship Randomized Controlled Trial
This project compares care guided by an AI-enabled digital stethoscope to standard care to help decide if young children with non-severe pneumonia in Bangladesh need antibiotics.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Johns Hopkins University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Baltimore, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11176169 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If my child (age 0–11) comes to a participating clinic with non-severe pneumonia, they may be randomly assigned to usual care or to care that includes lung sounds recorded by an FDA-cleared digital stethoscope with automated AI analysis. The trial is randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, and designed as a non-inferiority comparison to make sure children remain safe while reducing unnecessary antibiotics. The team will also study how the device could be implemented in rural clinics and perform an economic analysis to see if it is affordable and scalable. The work focuses on low-risk children over about three years at sites in rural Bangladesh.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are low-risk children aged 0–11 years with non-severe clinical pneumonia presenting to participating clinics in rural Bangladesh.
Not a fit: Children with severe pneumonia, high-risk medical conditions, or those outside the study locations are unlikely to benefit from participation.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this approach could safely reduce unnecessary antibiotic use in young children and help slow antibiotic resistance while maintaining good clinical outcomes.
How similar studies have performed: The digital stethoscope and AI have been developed and validated over a decade across seven LMICs and the device is FDA-cleared, but randomized, double-blind trials of this approach for reducing antibiotics in children are limited.
Where this research is happening
Baltimore, United States
- Johns Hopkins University — Baltimore, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Mccollum, Eric Douglass — Johns Hopkins University
- Study coordinator: Mccollum, Eric Douglass
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.