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

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Childhood Asthma

In brief

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.

Key facts

Study ID: NCT00839046
Run by: University of Michigan
People needed: 126
Starts: 2007-08-01
Expected to finish: 2010-10-01
Last updated by the study team: 2017-07-24

Who can join

Age: 6 and older, up to 12. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

Residents of EastSide or Southwest Detroit
child in the family between age of 6-12 with responses to the screening questionnaire consistent with known or probable persistent (mild, moderate, or severe) asthma

You may not qualify if…

the family participated in our previous intervention study in Detroit
the family experiences continuous homelessness during the period of enrollment;
the child spends fewer than 80% of nights at the primary household during the school year
the child has a physical or mental handicap that would preclude successful completion of the child survey and spirometry.
the child spends fewer than 28 consecutive nights (4 weeks) during the summer (i.e., June, July, and August) at the primary household
the family is monolingual in a language other than English or Spanish;
the electrical wiring of the house is inadequate for use of the air filter/air conditioner (AF/AC)
the home lacks a closable door to the room where the child usually sleeps
there is already an existent window AC unit in the room where the child usually sleeps
the window in the room where the child usually sleeps will not support the addition of a window AC unit.

Where it is running

University of Michigan — Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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