The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice
Original ArticleAsthma Prevalence and Mold Levels in US Northeastern Schools
Section snippets
Recruitment and data collection
The School Inner-City Asthma Intervention Study 2 (SICAS 2) is a randomized, controlled clinical trial using environmental interventions modeled from successful home-based interventions. The SICAS 2 study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Boston Children's Hospital. The description of SICAS 2 study methods and data collection details have been previously published.14,15
This arm of the SICAS 2 study was limited to the investigation of 32 schools in school years 2014 through 2018,
Results
Table I presents the geometric means for each of 36 ERMI molds in the schools (n = 32) compared with homes (n = 33). In schools, 11.5% (3 of 26) of the group 1 molds were significantly higher than in homes, whereas in homes, 15.4% (4 of 26) of the group 1 molds were significantly higher than in schools. However, 60.0% (6 of 10) of the group 2 molds in schools were significantly higher than in homes, but only 10.0% (1 of 10) of the group 2 molds in homes were significantly higher than in schools.
Discussion
The ERMI metric was previously used in a study of 1 school in the northeast United States, Springfield, MA.28 This school was the subject of a Health Impact Assessment conducted by the US Environmental Protection Agency because the school had a long history of water problems. Visible mold growth was observed on the first level and wet carpeting was detected on the second and third levels of this school. High ERMI values, as well as high group 1 and group 2 mold levels, were measured in many of
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the schools and families that participated in this study.
Notice
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through its Office of Research and Development collaborated in the research described here. Although this work was reviewed by the EPA and approved for publication, it may not necessarily reflect official EPA policy. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation by the EPA for use. Also, ATSDR does not endorse the
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Environmental Exposures Impact Pediatric Asthma Within the School Environment
2022, Immunology and Allergy Clinics of North AmericaCitation Excerpt :The Environmental Relative Moldiness Index (ERMI) has been successfully used to predict the asthma-related health effects of mold exposures in homes.66,67 A SICAS analysis by Howard and colleagues66 assessed the difference between ERMI values in homes and schools in the northeast US and found that levels of outdoor-sourced group 2 molds were significantly higher in schools. Simultaneously, the presence of school air conditioning significantly correlated with lower asthma prevalence.
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This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health; grant number (awardee); K23 AI123517 (P. Permaul), K23 AI143962 (L. M. Bartnikas), K23 AI104780 (W. J. Sheehan), R01 ES030100 (J. M. Gaffin), R01 AI144119 (P. S. Lai), R01 AI073964, R01 AI073964-02S1, K24 AI106822, U10 HL098102, U01 AI110397, R01 HL137192, and U19AR06952 (W. Phipatanakul). This work was also supported by the cooperative agreement award number 1 NU61TS000296-01-00 from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) (M. Hauptman). The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) supports the Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU) by providing partial funding to ATSDR under Inter-Agency Agreement number DW-75-95877701.
Conflicts of interest: W. Phipatanakul is the consultant/advisor for Genentech/Novartis, Sanofi, Regeneron, and Astra Zeneca; and receives trial support from Genentech, Novartis, Sanofi, Regeneron, Merck, Circassia Alk Abello, Lincoln Diagnostics, Monaghen, and Thermo Fisher. The rest of the authors declare that they have no relevant conflicts of interest.