Stories

CHR Enrolling Ten Thousand to Study Human Metapneumovirus

By Jill Pope, Communications Lead

This fall, CHR will embark on its third year of the Acute Respiratory Illness in Adults (ARIA) study, which aims to improve our understanding of respiratory viruses and their impact on health. Several viruses can cause acute respiratory illness, but we know more about some—such as influenza (flu), Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), and SARS-Cov-2 (COVID-19). For these viruses, vaccines are available. However, for others, such as human metapneumovirus (hMPV), we know very little, and prevention measures, such as a vaccine, are not available.

Recruitment teams have enrolled about eight thousand Kaiser Permanente health plan members into the ARIA study so far and are on target to enroll more than ten thousand, making this one of the largest-ever studies to examine hMPV.

CHR’s study team is led by Principal Investigator Jennifer Kuntz, PhD and includes Co-Investigators Holly Groom, MPH, Ning Smith, PhD, and Richard Mularski, MD. CHR is partnering with investigators at the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research (DOR; Nicola Klein, PhD) and the Marshfield Clinic Research Institute (MCRI; Jennifer Meece, PhD).

We know little about hMPV because the virus was only identified as a cause of acute respiratory illness 25 years ago. “Since then,” says Dr. Jennifer Kuntz, “awareness has remained low—physicians are not always aware of how common it is and little clinical testing happens. The ARIA Study is helping to fill the void in what we know about hMPV and add to what we know about other respiratory pathogens like RSV and influenza.”

Dr. Kuntz adds, “This study—and the collaboration between CHR, Division of Research in California, and MCRI in Wisconsin—has led to successful recruitment of a large population and has offered lab testing for respiratory pathogens not typically identified in clinical care.”

The ARIA study focuses on two groups of KP members, those 18 and older who are hospitalized with acute respiratory illness (ARI), and those 50 and older who seek care for ARI in the outpatient setting. The outpatient side of the study is conducted within the Kaiser Permanente Northwest health care system (KPNW). The inpatient side is conducted both at KPNW and at Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC), with most hospital enrollment occurring at KPNC.

To carry out this work, CHR recruitment staff are contacting KPNW health plan members in Oregon and Washington who have had an ARI diagnosed at an outpatient visit or through telehealth to invite them to enroll. In turn, recruitment staff in KP hospitals in Oregon and Northern California identify members hospitalized with ARI and invite them to participate.

KP members who join the study use an online survey to answer questions about their symptoms, health, and quality of life. They also provide nasal swabs and saliva samples; these are sent to the Marshfield Clinic lab where they are tested for respiratory viruses including hMPV, RSV, flu, and COVID-19. Lab results are returned to participants, giving them useful information that is often not available as part of a study.

The ARIA study is gathering much needed real-world data about the burden of illness caused by respiratory viruses and the impact these viruses have on health, health care costs, and quality of life. What we learn, with the help of more than ten thousand KP members, will guide future efforts to prevent and treat acute respiratory illness. The ARIA study is a collaborative research project with its funder, AstraZeneca.