A Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR) Intervention for Childhood Asthma Using Air Filters and Air Conditioners

Overview

The burden of childhood asthma is borne disproportionately by children living in poverty and in urban centers, many of whom are from communities of color and are at greater risk for environmental exposures. Given the complex interaction of physical and social environmental factors on childhood asthma, there have been increasing calls for comprehensive efforts using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach. Community Action Against Asthma is a long standing CBPR partnership in Detroit, Michigan, composed of representatives from community-based organizations, health and human service agencies, and academia. All members of the partnership have been actively involved in the development of the CBPR project proposed here. The specific aims are: 1) to test the efficacy of air filters (AFs) separately and when combined with air conditioners (ACs) to reduce exposure to particulate matter (PM), over and above a standard community health worker home visit (standard) intervention; 2) to test the association between any reduction in PM exposure through the use of AFs separately and when combined with ACs over and above a standard intervention and health outcomes in children with asthma; 3) to elucidate the causal pathways by which any intervention-related improvements in children's asthma-related health status is occurring. One hundred and fifty households in Detroit, Michigan with at least one child with mild persistent or moderate to severe persistent asthma will be enrolled to participate in the study. Households will be randomly assigned to one of three groups: a standard household intervention (or control) group; an AF only intervention group; or an AF+AC intervention group. Extensive health and exposure measures will be undertaken during the course of the 12 -month intervention. Given the role of PM in children's asthma-related health and the higher concentrations of PM in microenvironments, there is a need to test the efficacy and efficiency of novel approaches to reducing indoor air pollutants. Doing so using a CBPR approach will enhance the relevance and ultimately the success of this proposed research.

For the proposed study we will conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) comparing a standard community health worker home visit intervention (the standard intervention) to an Air Filter(AF) only intervention that adds the use of an AF in the child's bedroom to the standard intervention (AF only intervention) and an Air Filter(AF)+ Air Conditioner (AC) intervention that adds the use of an AF and AC in the child's bedroom to the standard intervention (AF+AC intervention) (Figure 1). We will test whether the addition of AFs (and, in the warmer months, ACs) to the standard intervention, as compared to the standard intervention will: (1) further lower children's exposure to PM (Specific Aims 1a, 1b), and (2) further improve asthma-related health status of children (Aims 2a, 2b). One hundred and fifty Detroit households with at least one child aged 6 to 12 with symptoms consistent with persistent asthma (mild, moderate, or severe) will be enrolled in the study . Following collection of baseline data, households will be randomly assigned to receive one of three interventions: the standard household intervention, the AF only intervention, or the AF+AC intervention. Participants assigned to the AF only intervention group will receive AFs at the start of the 12-month intervention (Summer/Fall 2008). Those assigned to the AF+AC intervention group will receive AFs at the start of the intervention period but ACs will not be in place during the first summer of the intervention, but will be installed in June 2009 prior to the second summer of the intervention (Figure 2). Data will be collected across all seasons (Fall 2008 through Winter 2009) which will enable us to evaluate directly the exposure and health outcome effects (Specific Aims 1a and 2a, respectively) of the addition of AFs alone to the standard intervention as well as the exposure and health outcome effects of the AFs augmented by ACs (Aims 1b, 2b). This design will also allow for comparisons, adjusted for any changes in the exposure and health status of the intervention groups, of the combined effect of the AC and AF to that of the AF alone.