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OVERVIEW OF THE TAMPA ASTHMATIC CHILDREN'S STUDY
Citation:
Stevens, C. OVERVIEW OF THE TAMPA ASTHMATIC CHILDREN'S STUDY. Presented at West Central Florida Air Quality Coordinating Committee, Tampa, FL, October 18, 2002.
Impact/Purpose:
Develop simple questionnaires and measures for input into models to classify children's exposures to CRPs, PM, and air toxics.
Quantify personal, indoor air, outdoor and ambient site concentrations for CRP/PM/air toxics for the participants in this pilot study.
Identify and model key factors contributing to the inter- and intra-personal variability between personal measures and corresponding indoor, outdoor, and ambient air concentrations for CRP/PM/air toxics.
Evaluate the contribution of ambient sources to indoor air and personal concentration measurements for CRP/PM/air toxics.
Apply the scientific tools developed and information gained from this pilot in the NCS to assess children's exposures.
Description:
Asthma is the most common serious chronic disease of childhood and there has been an increase of about 50% in the prevalence of childhood asthma over the last 30 years. Ozone, particulate matter (PM), sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and other combustion related products (CRPs), as well as air toxics have been identified as asthma triggers. The Tampa Asthmatic Children's Study (TACS) is a pilot study focused (a) on simple, cost effective methods for assessing environmental exposures relevant to asthma and (b) on techniques for the early assessment of asthma-related health outcomes. The methodologies developed from this research will be applied to a larger population in a future study, and will represent a vital building block for asthma research to be included in the proposed National Children's Study (NCS).
The TACS design is to perform field monitoring using the simple cost effective data collection methods to identify and quantify exposure factors associated with CRPs, PM and air toxic pollutants in real-world environments, and to develop simple questionnaires, surveys and measurements for classifying exposure of asthmatic children living in the Tampa area. Special emphasis will be placed on collection of data relative to the proximity of the residences to CRP sources, housing type, household ventilation (penetration and deposition rates within the residence) and human activity profile factors. The cohort will consist of nine study participants who are 5 years of age and under, with diagnosed asthma or they may have a sibling that has been diagnosed with asthma. The participants will be from diverse incomes, races, and housing types. The participants' personal exposures, their residence (indoor and outdoor), and ambient concentrations of CRPs, PM, and select air toxics (e.g. aldehydes, ozone, etc.) will be monitored for four consecutive days during the data collection activities. Field data collection activities will begin in Tampa, Florida starting October 23, 2002 and ending November 12, 2002.
This work has been funded wholly or in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under contract # 68D-99-012 to the Research Triangle Institute. It has been subjected to agency review and approved for publication.