HEPA filtration intervention in classrooms may improve some students’ asthma

Details

• Alternative Title:
  J Asthma
• Personal Author:
  Vesper, Stephen J. ; Wymer, Larry ; Coull, Brent A. ; Koutrakis, Petros ; Cunningham, Amparito ; Petty, Carter R. ; Metwali, Nervana ; Sheehan, William J. ; Gaffin, Jonathan M. ; Permaul, Perdita ; Lai, Peggy S. ; Bartnikas, Lisa M. ; Hauptman, Marissa ; Gold, Diane R. ; Baxi, Sachin N. ; Phipatanakul, Wanda
• Description:
  OBJECTIVE
  
  The School Inner-City Asthma Intervention Study 2 (SICAS 2) tested interventions to reduce exposures in classrooms of students with asthma. The objective of this post-hoc analysis was limited to evaluating the effect of high-efficiency particulate (HEPA) filtration interventions on mold levels as quantified using the Environmental Relative Moldiness Index (ERMI) and the possible improvement in the students’ asthma, as quantified by spirometry testing.
  
  METHODS
  
  Pre-intervention dust samples were collected at the beginning of the school year from classrooms and corresponding homes of students with asthma (n=150). Follow-up dust samples were collected in the classrooms at the end of the HEPA or Sham intervention. For each dust sample, ERMI values and the Group 1 and Group 2 mold levels (components of the ERMI metric) were quantified. In addition, each student’s lung function was evaluated by spirometry testing, specifically the percentage predicted forced expiratory volume at 1 sec (FEV1%), before and at the end of the intervention.
  
  RESULTS
  
  For those students with a higher Group 1 mold level in their pre-intervention classroom than home (n=94), the FEV1% results for those students was significantly (p<0.05) inversely correlated with the Group 1 level in their classrooms. After the HEPA intervention, the average Group 1 level and ERMI values were significantly lowered, and the average FEV1% test results significantly increased by an average of 4.22% for students in HEPA compared to Sham classrooms.
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  
  HEPA intervention in classrooms reduced Group 1 levels and ERMI values, which corresponded to improvements in the students’ FEV1% results.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Air Pollution, Indoor Asthma Dust Fungi Housing Humans Spirometry
• Keywords:
  Alzheimer's Disease Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project Antiviral Agents Dust ERMI Forced Expiratory Volume Herpes Simplex Human Papillomavirus Mold Spirometry Torque Teno Viruses Whole Exome Sequencing Whole Genome Sequencing

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• Source:
  J Asthma. 60(3):479-486
• Pubmed ID:
  35341426
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC9548522
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  U01 AI110397/AI/NIAID NIH HHSUnited States/ ; K23 AI104780/AI/NIAID NIH HHSUnited States/ ; P30 ES000002/ES/NIEHS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; K23 AI123517/AI/NIAID NIH HHSUnited States/ ; K23 ES031663/ES/NIEHS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; K23 AI143962/AI/NIAID NIH HHSUnited States/ ; R01 TS000296/TS/ATSDR CDC HHSUnited States/ ; K24 AI106822/AI/NIAID NIH HHSUnited States/ ; R01 AI073964/AI/NIAID NIH HHSUnited States/ ; R01 HL137192/HL/NHLBI NIH HHSUnited States/ ; R01 ES030100/ES/NIEHS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; U10 HL098102/HL/NHLBI NIH HHSUnited States/ ; R01 AI144119/AI/NIAID NIH HHSUnited States/ ; EPA999999/ImEPA/Intramural EPAUnited States/
• Volume:
  60
• Issue:
  3
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b8de1faf1111eeef16975fc1c209ecaa9643371f1c51ebaa28c178b5da1171729baf1c142ce8f37c0cb03ca3ca0ae288a064f73c6bd738ec985cc47180cc9126
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/121740/cdc_121740_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 118.77 KB ]