Household intervention to improve indoor air quality and health of children with asthma in the US-Mexico border

Background: Indoor air quality (IAQ) affects health outcomes of children with asthma. Previous studies have investigated various interventions to improve IAQ and outcomes of asthma and other respiratory diseases. However, there is still a paucity of studies evaluating the household intervention to enhance IAQ and asthma-related outcomes in relatively low-income communities. Thus, this study aims to examine the impact of combined interventions with asthma education and air purifier on IAQ and health outcomes in the US-Mexico border area.Methods: An interventional study was conducted in McAllen, Texas between June and November 2019, and 16 households having children with asthma were participated in this study. A holistic asthma education and low-cost home air purifier were provided in each household. The levels of particulate matter (PM2.5) were monitored in the bedroom, kitchen, and living room to evaluate the IAQ for 7 days before and after the intervention, respectively. Also, multiple surveys were applied at the beginning and end of the study in individual households to estimate the improvement of children’s health outcomes. The t-tests and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to compare the PM2.5 levels and overall scores for health outcomes between pre- and post-intervention.Results: The indoor PM2.5 levels in each place in households were significantly improved, and overall PM2.5 levels significantly decreased by 0.95 µg/m3 on average (p