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EPA observational studies of children's respiratory health in the Detroit and Dearborn, Michigan
Citation:
WILLIAMS, A. H., J. GALLAGHER, E. E. HUDGENS, M. M. JOHNSON, S. MUKERJEE, H. A. OZKAYNAK, AND L. M. NEAS. EPA observational studies of children's respiratory health in the Detroit and Dearborn, Michigan. Presented at Air and Waste Management Association's 102 nd Annual Conference and Exhibtion, Detroit, MI, June 16 - 19, 2009.
Impact/Purpose:
research results
Description:
Previous research has suggested that long-term exposures to mobile-source emissions might be associated with the development of allergies and asthma in children. Between 2004 and 2007, EPA scientists successfully conducted nested observational studies of children aged 7-12 years in the greater Detroit metropolitan area (Detroit and Dearborn, Michigan) to understand whether long-term, early-life exposures to mobile-source emissions play a key role in the initiation of allergic asthma, in lower levels of lung function, and in higher levels of inflammatory indicators. At the outermost nesting level, EPA’s Detroit Children’s Health Study (DCHS) identified a case-cohort sample of 6,883 children aged 7-12 years at time of recruitment, through the Henry Ford Health System, which distributed the questionnaires and conducted the clinical measurements. The resulting sample of 1,157 completed questionnaires included 327 asthmatic and 830 non-asthmatic children with residential estimates of ambient exposure from land use regression models. At the next level, 705 children completed clinical examinations of lung function and exhaled breath. From among these participants, 205 non-asthmatic and asthmatic children aged 9-13 years were recruited into the clinical Mechanistic Indicators of Childhood Asthma (MICA) study designed to evaluate asthma risk factors and gene environmental interactions relevant to asthma and asthma exacerbations through collection of biological samples including blood, hair, urine, and nails; a current medication list; home vacuum dust sample; clinical measurements of olfactory perception, blood oxygen saturation, blood pressure; and time-activity, food, and health information. At the innermost level, the parents of 92 asthmatic and non-asthmatic children completed a participant-based collection of indoor and outdoor air samples for the children’s homes (MICA-Air) that focused on passively measured NO2 and volatile organic compounds. These studies combine a traditional epidemiological design with a more integrative approach to investigate the environmental exposures through measurements of internal dose to clinical measures of health outcome. This is an abstract of a proposed presentation and does not necessarily reflect EPA policy.