Indoor Environmental Differences between Inner City and Suburban Homes of Children with Asthma

Abstract

We conducted this study to compare environmental exposures in suburban homes of children with asthma to exposures in inner city homes of children with asthma, to better understand important differences of indoor pollutant exposure that might contribute to increased asthma morbidity in the inner city. Indoor PM 10 , PM 2.5 , NO 2 , O 3 , and airborne and dust allergen levels were measured in the homes of 120 children with asthma, 100 living in inner city Baltimore and 20 living in the surrounding counties. Home conditions and health outcome measures were also compared. The inner city and suburban homes differed in ways that might affect airborne environmental exposures. The inner city homes had more cigarette smoking (67% vs. 5%, pG.001), signs of disrepair (77% vs. 5%, pG.001), and cockroach (64% vs. 0%, pG.001) and mouse (80% vs. 5%, pG.001) infestation. The inner city homes had higher geometric mean (GM) levels (pG.001) of PM 10 (47 vs. 18 mg/m 3 ), PM 2.5 (34 vs. 8.7 mg/m 3 ), NO 2 [19 ppb vs. below detection (BD)], and O 3 (1.9 vs. .015 ppb) than suburban homes. The inner city homes had lower GM bedroom dust allergen levels of dust mite (.29 vs. 1.2 mg/g, p=.022), dog (.38 vs. 5.5 mg/g, pG.001) and cat (.75 vs. 2.4 mg/g, p=.039), but higher levels of mouse (3.2 vs. .013 mg/g, pG.001) and cockroach (4.5 vs. .42 U/g, pG.001). The inner city homes also had higher GM airborne mouse allergen levels (.055 vs. .016 ng/m 3 , p=.002). Compared with the homes of suburban children with asthma, the homes of inner city Baltimore children with asthma had higher levels of airborne pollutants and home characteristics that predispose to greater asthma morbidity.

Indoor airborne fungi and wheeze in the first year of life among a cohort of infants at risk for asthma

“…Although seemingly counterintuitive, carpeting appears to be associated with socioeconomic status in our study population; home owners were more likely to have private health insurance and also were more likely to have carpeting. A similar observation was made in a comparison of suburban and inner city homes of children with asthma (Simons et al, 2007). In a European birth cohort, carpeting in the child's bedroom was uncommon and not related to wheezing during the first year (Hagendorens et al, 2005).…”

Correlation between ERMI Values and Other Moisture and Mold Assessments of Homes in the American Healthy Homes Survey

“…9 This finding is consistent with many studies of inner city housing which have demonstrated higher levels of asthma triggers, including molds, than housing in general. [21][22][23][24][25][26] In conclusion, analysis of the 36 molds that make up the ERMI provided a more objective way to describe the mold burdens in homes. However, we recognize that each mold inspector has his/her own methods, years of experience, and equipment for finding mold growth.…”

Hazard assessment of chemical air contaminants measured in residences

“…Tables Table 1 Publications (Turpin et al 2007) 48 hrs Los Angeles; Houston; Elizabeth, NJ,US X P X X 157-275 17 (Croxford et al 2006) 1 week London, UK C 270 18 (Jia et al 2008) 3-4 days Michigan, US X X X 251-257 19 (Jo and Lee 2006) 2 hrs Daegu, South Korea C 240 20 (Heroux et al 2009) 24 hrs Saskatchewan, Canada X X NA 217 21 (Long et al 2000) 12 hrs Boston, Massachusetts, US X P 211 22 (Offermann 2009) 24 hrs California, US X X P,C, N X X X 31-211 23 (Jarvis et al 2005) 14 days United Kingdom N 203 24 (Edwards et al 2001) 48 hrs Helsinki, Finland X X X 201 25 (Gordon et al 1999) 6-7 days Arizona, US X X 185 26 (Jia et al 2008) 3-4 days Southeast Michigan, US X X X NA 159 27 (Sexton et al 2004) 2 days Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, US X X 132 28 (Rudel et al 2003) 24 hrs Cape Cod, Massachusetts, US X X 30-120 29 (Fromme et al 2004) 7-8 hrs Berlin, Germany X 115 30 (Simons et al 2007) 3 days Baltimore, Maryland, US X O, P, N 95-109 31 (Weisel 2006) 24 hrs New Jersey, US X X 7-100 32 (Zota et al 2005) 2 weeks Boston, Massachusetts, US X N 100 33 (Guo et al 2009) 24 hrs Hong Kong X X 100 34 (Gilbert et al 2006) 7 days Quebec City, Canada N X 96 36 (Miller et al 2009) 24 hrs Commerce City, Colorado, US X C,P 92-97 37 (Phillips et al 2005) 24 hrs Oklahoma, US X X 90 38 (Kinney et al 2002) 48 hrs West central Harlem, New York, US X P X X X 18-88 39 (Lee et al 2002) 6 days Southern California, US X N,O 92-106 40 (Sorensen et al 2005) 48 hrs Copenhagen, Denmark P,N 73-87 41 (Dodson et al 2008) 24 hrs Boston, Massachusetts, US X X X 83 42 (Janssen et al 2005) 24 hrs Amsterdam/Helsinki P X 82 43 (Garrett et al 1999) 24 hrs Latrobe Valley, Victoria, Australia N 80 44 24 hrs Ottawa, Ontario, Canada X X 75 45 (Raymer et al 2009) 24 hrs Wisconsin, California, US X X X 47-70 46 (Johnson et al 2004) 3 days Columbus, Ohio, US X C 32-67 47 …”