Study Links Poor Indoor Air Quality with Childhood Asthma Attacks
By Joe Castner
A recent study conducted by scientists at the School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health has proven the widely-held belief that poor air quality can trigger asthma attacks in people who already have the illness. Barbara Ha posted an article in the Johns Hopkins Newsletter on February 26, 2009 about a report that appears in the February issue of Environmental Health Perspectives, based on a six-month study of inner city children aged two to six years. The study, which monitored particulate concentration levels in the children's bedrooms, concluded that increased levels of particulates correlated to increased asthma-like symptoms, as well as increased use of medications which included albuterol inhalers. Asthma is common to people living in US cities, and is related to many factors including access to medical care, diet, stress, exposure to other children during childhood years, and, of course, environmental factors such as airborne particulates. Particulates are fine particles that are suspended in the air and consist largely of car exhaust, chemicals released during cooking and cleaning, pollen and fungal spores. These particles can cause severe medical problems throughout the respiratory systems of sensitive individuals, with children and the elderly being the most vulnerable. This study comes at a time when many people are questioning the rise in asthma rates even though most people are spending increasing amounts of time indoors. To date, more is known about outdoor particulates than indoor particulates, though what is now becoming well known is that the concentration of many kinds of particulate matter is much greater indoors. AspenAir Inside is committed to ridding indoor air of these harmful particulates and in doing so, hopes to significantly reduce the risk of asthma attacks in all people, especially our children. To read Ms. Ho's post in its entirety, please go to: http://media.www.jhunewsletter.com/media/storage/paper932/news/2009/02/26/Science/Air-Particles.Raise.Risk.Of.Childhood.Asthma-3651585.shtml
Comments
| kare Anderson
April 22, 2009 |
Today, the popular blog All About Cities discusses the power of making cities more liveable by cleaning up outside air <http://allaboutcities.ca/enough-doomsday-talk-focus-on-livability> while AspenAir helps us now in the one place we can control - the air inside our homes |
| Kare Anderson
April 29, 2009 |
As Richard Florida Tweeted today, “60% of Americans live in areas with unhealthy air.” “Six out of 10 Americans right now as we speak live in areas where the air can be dirty enough to send people to the emergency room, dirty enough to shape how kids’ lungs develop and even dirty enough to kill,” said Janice E. Nolen, of the American Lung Association |
