Assessing Impact of Household Intervention on Indoor Air Quality and Health of Children with Asthma in the US-Mexico Border: A Pilot Study.

Alejandro Moreno-Rangel,Juha Baek,Taehyun Roh,Xiaohui Xu,Genny Carrillo

doi:10.1155/2020/6042146

Alejandro Moreno-Rangel, Juha Baek + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/6042146

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Abstract

Few studies have investigated household interventions to enhance indoor air quality (IAQ) and health outcomes in relatively low-income communities. This study aims to examine the impact of the combined intervention with asthma education and air purifier on IAQ and health outcomes in the US-Mexico border area. An intervention study conducted in McAllen, Texas, between June and November 2019 included 16 households having children with asthma. The particulate matter (PM2.5) levels were monitored in the bedroom, kitchen, and living room to measure the IAQ for 7 days before and after the intervention, respectively. Multiple surveys were applied to evaluate changes in children's health outcomes. The mean PM2.5 levels in each place were significantly improved. Overall, they significantly decreased by 1.91 μg/m3 on average (p < 0.05). All surveys showed better health outcomes; particularly, quality of life for children was significantly improved (p < 0.05). This pilot study suggests that the combined household intervention might improve IAQ in households and health outcomes for children with asthma and reduce health disparities in low-income communities. Future large-scale studies are needed to verify the effectiveness of this household intervention to improve IAQ and asthma management.

Highlights

Asthma is a chronic disease and a widespread public health problem among children
Participants and Study Design. is is an intervention study conducted in McAllen, Texas, from June to November 2019, including 16 households recruited by using convenience sampling among children diagnosed with asthma and already participating in the Asthma and Healthy Homes’ education study. e criteria for study participants were households: (1) having a child diagnosed with asthma aged 7 to 12 years old, (2) willing to receive asthma education, and (3) agreed to allow community health workers (CHWs) to visit their home three times during the study, including installing air monitors and the air purifier
The CHW conducted pretests for health outcomes, including Home Environmental Personal Well-being Survey (HES), Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Asthma Module (PedsQL), the Asthma Control Test (ACT), and Healthy Homes and Asthma Test (HHA). en, asthma education was provided to children and their parents

Summary

Introduction

Asthma is a chronic disease and a widespread public health problem among children. In the United States (US), the childhood asthma prevalence was 8.4% and the rate for children’s asthma attacks was 51.6% in 2017 [1]. The rates for children’s hospitalizations for Emergency Department visits were reported to be 10.7 and 74.3 per 10,000 population in 2016, respectively [1]. Children are among the populations most vulnerable to poor indoor air quality (IAQ) [2, 3]. Childhood asthma rates are high among minority population residing in low-income communities and low-educated families, thereby facing environmental injustice [4]. Deprived communities are more likely to worsen existing medical conditions and live in poorer-quality environments experiencing higher air pollutant levels [5]

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