Stephen J Vesper1, Larry Wymer1, Brent A Coull2, Petros Koutrakis3, Amparito Cunningham4, Carter R Petty5, Nervana Metwali6, William J Sheehan4,7, Jonathan M Gaffin7,8, Perdita Permaul9, Peggy S Lai7,10, Lisa M Bartnikas4,7, Marissa Hauptman7,11,12, Diane R Gold3,7,13, Sachin M Baxi4,7, Wanda Phipatanakul3,7. 1. US Environmental Protection Agency, Center for Environmental Measurement and Modeling, Cincinnati, OH, USA. 2. Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA. 3. Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA. 4. Division of Allergy and Immunology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. 5. Institutional Centers for Clinical and Translational Research, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. 6. Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA. 7. Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. 8. Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. 9. Division of Pediatric Pulmonology, Allergy and Immunology, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA. 10. Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. 11. Division of General Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. 12. Region 1 New England Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit, Boston, MA, USA. 13. Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Abstract
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 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 and ERMI values, which corresponded to improvements in the students' FEV1% test results.
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 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 and ERMI values, which corresponded to improvements in the students' FEV1% test results.
Authors: Stephen Vesper; Craig McKinstry; Richard Haugland; Larry Wymer; Karen Bradham; Peter Ashley; David Cox; Gary Dewalt; Warren Friedman Journal: J Occup Environ Med Date: 2007-08 Impact factor: 2.162
Authors: William J Sheehan; Perdita Permaul; Carter R Petty; Brent A Coull; Sachin N Baxi; Jonathan M Gaffin; Peggy S Lai; Diane R Gold; Wanda Phipatanakul Journal: JAMA Pediatr Date: 2017-01-01 Impact factor: 16.193
Authors: Wanda Phipatanakul; Petros Koutrakis; Brent A Coull; Carter R Petty; Jonathan M Gaffin; William J Sheehan; Peggy S Lai; Lisa M Bartnikas; Choong-Min Kang; Jack M Wolfson; Mihail Samnaliev; Amparito Cunningham; Sachin N Baxi; Perdita Permaul; Marissa Hauptman; Michelle Trivedi; Margee Louisias; Liming Liang; Peter S Thorne; Nervana Metwali; Gary Adamkiewicz; Elliot Israel; Andrea A Baccarelli; Diane R Gold Journal: JAMA Date: 2021-09-07 Impact factor: 157.335
Authors: Jonathan M Gaffin; Marissa Hauptman; Carter R Petty; William J Sheehan; Peggy S Lai; Jack M Wolfson; Diane R Gold; Brent A Coull; Petros Koutrakis; Wanda Phipatanakul Journal: J Allergy Clin Immunol Date: 2017-10-05 Impact factor: 10.793
Authors: William W Busse; Marc Humbert; Tmirah Haselkorn; Benjamin Ortiz; Benjamin L Trzaskoma; Patricia Stephenson; Lorena Garcia Conde; Farid Kianifard; Stephen T Holgate Journal: Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol Date: 2019-11-22 Impact factor: 6.347