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 A researcher collects a vacuum dust sample from the home of an asthmatic patient.
The Inner-City Asthma Study (ICAS) is a 7-site cooperative study sponsored by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). ICAS was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of two types of interventions to reduce asthma morbidity and severity among 937 inner-city children, ages 5-11, with moderate to severe asthma. Each participant was enrolled for two years, the intervention year and a follow-up year. An Environmental Intervention and a Physician Feedback Intervention were studied.  A field interviewer collects bedding dust for allergen analysis by vacuum sampling in an Alabama home.
The Physician Feedback intervention entailed a new communication and education system that provided physicians with up-to-date information on the child's symptoms, medication use, and health care use. The Environmental Intervention focused on the home environments of the children, involving education and reduction of environmental exposures including cockroaches, dust mites, environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), mold, furry pets, and rodents. More information about how this customized intervention reduced symptoms in inner-city children can be found in the publications related to this study. For further information about asthma, contact: webcenter@niehs.nih.gov National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Office of Communications P.O. Box 12233 Research Triangle Park, N.C. 27709 (919) 541-3345 |
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