Action Towards Health Equity and Improved Air Quality in the Duwamish Valley: A Multilevel Asthma Intervention

Not Applicable

Recruiting

Brief Summary: The goal of this randomized control trial is to learn if box fans and filters can reduce asthma symptoms and improve indoor air quality in children ages 6 - 17 years old with asthma living in the Duwamish Valley, Seattle, Washington. The main question it aims to answer are:

* Do box fans with filters improve asthma symptoms?

* Do box fans with filters improve an objective measure used to monitor lung function known as forced expiratory volume during the first second (FEV1)? Researchers will compare children living in households with high quality filters to those in households with sham filters to see if air quality and asthma symptoms improve.

Participants will

* fill out several questionnaires

* monitor their lung function with a peak flow meter

* place an air monitor in their homes to monitor indoor air quality

* run the box fan when they are at home

Recruitment & Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

age (6-17 years)
poorly controlled physician diagnosed asthma defined as more than four days with asthma symptoms in the past two weeks, use of asthma rescue medication for more than four days in the past two weeks, or health care utilization due to asthma in the past year (hospitalization, emergency room visit, or unscheduled clinic visit)
living in Georgetown and South Park neighborhoods of Seattle

Exclusion Criteria

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
MERV 13 filter	MERV 13 filter	Participants in this arm will receive a MERV 13 filter for their box fans. MERV 13 filters trap the majority of small particles, as small as 1 micron. It also traps up to 75% of particles that are as small as 0.3 microns.
Sham filter	Sham filter	Participants in this arm will receive a sham filter for their box fans. These filters receive a MERV rating of 1 and only filter very large particles and debris such as lint, hair and insects. These particles have little to no impact on asthma symptoms. MERV stands for "minimum efficiency reporting value" and a filter receives a MERV rating as determined by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
FEV1	FEV1 measures will be taken daily, once in the morning and once at night for the six week study time frame. Prior to the six month follow up we will ask participants to take three consecutive days of FEV1 measurements, for an additional 6 measures	FEV1 is captured with a digital peak flow meter.
Asthma symptoms	ACQ will be measured weekly for 6 consecutive weeks, two pre-intervention weeks (before box fans have been given to participant) and four weeks while fans are being used in the home. Symptoms will also be assessed at the six month follow-up visit.	Symptoms are evaluated with the seven-item asthma control questionnaire (ACQ), a validated tool used in children.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Use of rescue medications	ACQ will be measured weekly for 6 consecutive weeks, two pre-intervention weeks (before box fans have been given to participant) and four weeks while fans are being used in the home. Symptoms will also be assessed at the six month follow-up visit.	This is an item on the ACQ. See primary outcome.
Asthma quality of life	Will be evaluated at baseline (visit 1), after 6 weeks (visit 3) and at 6 month follow up (visit 4)	Will be assessed with the15-item mini-asthma quality of life questionnaire, a validated tool
Health care utilization in the past month	Will be evaluated at baseline (visit 1), after 6 weeks (visit 3) and at 6 month follow up (visit 4)	Will be assessed with the six-item asthma-related health care utilization questionnaire.

Locations (1): Duwamish River Community Coaltion
🇺🇸
Seattle, Washington, United States

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