Feasibility of residential air quality monitoring to address asthma outcomes.

Improving asthma outcomes for underserved populations can be addressed through interventions to improve indoor air quality (IAQ). New protocol for measuring IAQ and health outcomes are imperative given advances in IAQ monitoring technology and challenges in conducting intervention research in homes. In this pilot study HEPA air purifiers and HEPA vacuum cleaners were provided to five homes with children with asthma. For 6 weeks, eight common components of air quality were measured using a low-cost multi-channel air quality monitoring device, with data conveyed directly from participant homes via Wi-Fi connection. In conjunction with periodic surveys on asthma control, impact of asthma on quality of life and intervention compliance, outcomes compared IAQ, home characteristics, and asthma-related measures. This pilot study demonstrates the feasibility of a protocol to evaluate a dual component intervention to improve IAQ in homes, as measured with a low-cost air quality monitoring device.

Identifying Louisiana communities at the crossroads of environmental and social vulnerability, COVID-19, and asthma.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected the socially and environmentally vulnerable, including through indirect effects on other health conditions. Asthma is one such condition, which may be exacerbated by both prolonged adverse in-home exposures if quarantining in unhealthy homes and prolonged outdoor exposures if the ambient air quality is unhealthy or hazardous. As both are often the case in Environmental Justice (EJ) communities, here we have analyzed data at the census tract (CT) level for Louisiana to assess any correlation between social and environmental vulnerability, and health issues like COVID-19 and asthma. Higher Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), Particulate Matter less than 2.5 µm in diameter (PM2.5) and Ozone levels were associated with higher rates of cumulative COVID-19 incidence at various time points during the pandemic, as well as higher average annual asthma hospitalization rates and estimated asthma prevalence. Further, cumulative COVID-19 incidence during the first three months of the pandemic was moderately correlated with both asthma hospitalizations and estimated prevalence, suggesting similar underlying factors may be affecting both conditions. Additionally, 137 CTs were identified where social and environmental vulnerabilities co-existed, of which 75 (55%) had high estimated prevalence of asthma. These areas are likely to benefit from asthma outreach that considers both social and environmental risk factors. Fifteen out of the 137 CTs (11%) not only had higher estimated prevalence of asthma but also a high burden of COVID-19. Further research in these areas may help to elucidate any common social determinants of health that underlie both asthma and COVID-19 burdens, as well as better clarify the possible role of the environment as related to the COVID-19 burden in Louisiana.