Helping City Kids With Asthma
Summary: A study was conducted in poor inner-city neighborhoods where
asthma is rife among children. A program that reduces allergens and tobacco
smoke in the home was found to result in fewer illnesses related to asthma. This
study showed "the first significant reduction in asthma-related complications
induced by the avoidance of environmental allergens."
Comment: The environmental interventions did not work miracles but
they did have a moderate positive effect. All of the environmental interventions
can easily be implemented and are cost-effective.
Barbara K. Hecht,
Ph.D.
Frederick Hecht, M.D.
Medical Editors, MedicineNet.com
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Customized Program Reduces Asthma-Related Illness in
Inner-City Children
A program that reduces allergens and tobacco smoke in
the home resulted in fewer asthma-related illnesses in children participating in
the intervention than in those who were
not, according to a new study sponsored by the National
Institutes of Health (NIH). Children taking part in the
intervention had 21 fewer days of asthma-related symptoms
over the 1-year course of intervention.
The study - co-funded by the National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), two NIH
institutes - appears in the September 9th issue of The New
England Journal of Medicine.
"The burden that childhood asthma places on our society
is enormous - accounting for roughly 14 million missed school days each year and
$3.2 billion per year in treatment," says Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of NIAID.
"This important research will provide long-term practical
benefits to the millions of children who live with asthma in
the form of better quality of life, fewer emergency room
visits and hospitalizations and lower healthcare costs."
"These study results are exciting because they show that
changes made in the home environment can produce a reduction in symptoms
comparable to that achieved with asthma inhalers," notes Kenneth Olden, Ph.D., director of NIEHS.
Asthma, a chronic lung disease characterized by
coughing, wheezing and difficulty breathing, affects roughly 20 million
Americans. However, children who live in the inner city - in particular
African-American and Hispanic children
- suffer disproportionately from the disease. Elevated
asthma-related illness in this population may stem from
exposure to high levels of multiple indoor allergens and
tobacco smoke.
More than 900 children ages 5 to 11 with moderate to
severe asthma participated in the study. Each participant
had to be allergic to at least one common indoor
environmental allergen, such as cockroach allergen or mold. The children, most of whom
were African American or Hispanic, lived in low-income sections of seven major
metropolitan areas - the Bronx, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, New York City,
Seattle/Tacoma and Tucson. Once accepted into the study, they were randomly
assigned to either the intervention group or a control group.
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