Demonstration redesign — recruitment figures require routine verification before publication
Preterm Lung Health Research
A clinical trial for babies born very prematurelyRecruitment and trial news
BALLOON is growing with the support of families and neonatal teams.
Follow recruitment progress, research milestones and important study updates.
Recruitment summary
113 families are helping answer an important question.
BALLOON aims to enrol 542 babies born before 30 weeks of gestation. Recruitment takes place through participating neonatal units, where potentially eligible families are approached by their local research team.
Open the recruitment dashboard →Latest recruitment
John Radcliffe Hospital recruited the most recently reported participant.
The recruitment was recorded on 20 August 2026.
News and milestones
Progress across the BALLOON study
01
100 participants recruited
BALLOON reached its 100th participant milestone. Thank you to every family and neonatal research team contributing to the trial.
02
Recruitment update
Twelve babies joined BALLOON during May, reflecting sustained work across participating neonatal units.
03
Two additional sites opened
Scunthorpe General Hospital and Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital joined the recruitment network.
04
Trial protocol published
The BALLOON protocol was published in BMJ Open, providing a detailed, peer-reviewed account of the trial rationale and methods.
Read the published protocol ↗05
BALLOON opened to recruitment
Recruitment began with the first participating neonatal units in March 2025.
Research transparency
Key study records
These identifiers allow families, professionals and researchers to locate the registered and published study information.
Keeping information current
Recruitment figures need an owner, source and update time.
The controlled recruitment record, not a manually copied web total.
A designated trial-team member responsible for checking each update.
Date and time displayed beside every public recruitment figure.
The homepage and updates page must show the same verified total.
Questions about BALLOON?
Contact the central trial team for general enquiries.
Families taking part should contact their local hospital research nurse for any trial-related issue, and their local clinical service for clinical advice.