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
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• 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:
  • Humans
  • Asthma
  • Housing
  • Dust
  • Fungi
  • Spirometry
  • Air Pollution, Indoor
• Keywords:
  • spirometry
  • mold
  • ERMI
  • dust
  • forced expiratory volume
  • Alzheimer's disease
  • Alzheimer's disease sequencing project
  • antiviral agents
  • herpes simplex
  • human papillomavirus
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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/
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• Volume:
  60
• Issue:
  3
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/121740/cdc_121740_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 118.77 KB]
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b8de1faf1111eeef16975fc1c209ecaa9643371f1c51ebaa28c178b5da1171729baf1c142ce8f37c0cb03ca3ca0ae288a064f73c6bd738ec985cc47180cc9126