Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Dec;48(10):1007-14.
doi: 10.3109/02770903.2011.624235. Epub 2011 Oct 20.

The school inner-city asthma study: design, methods, and lessons learned

Wanda Phipatanakul  1 , Anne Bailey, Elaine B Hoffman, William J Sheehan, Jeffrey P Lane, Sachin Baxi, Devika Rao, Perdita Permaul, Jonathan M Gaffin, Christine A Rogers, Michael L Muilenberg, Diane R Gold
Affiliations

The school inner-city asthma study: design, methods, and lessons learned

Wanda Phipatanakul et al. J Asthma. 2011 Dec.

Abstract

Background: Children spend a significant amount of time in school. Little is known about the role of allergen exposure in school environments and asthma morbidity.

Objectives: The School Inner-City Asthma Study (SICAS) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded prospective study evaluating the school/classroom-specific risk factors and asthma morbidity among urban children.

Methods/results: This article describes the design, methods, and important lessons learned from this extensive investigation. A single center is recruiting 500 elementary school-aged children, all of whom attend inner-city metropolitan schools. The primary hypothesis is that exposure to common indoor allergens in the classroom will increase the risk of asthma morbidity in children with asthma, even after controlling for home allergen exposures. The protocol includes screening surveys of entire schools and baseline eligibility assessments obtained in the spring prior to the academic year. Extensive baseline clinical visits are being conducted among eligible children with asthma during the summer prior to the academic school year. Environmental classroom/school assessments including settled dust and air sampling for allergen, mold, air pollution, and inspection data are collected twice during the academic school year and one home dust sample linked to the enrolled student. Clinical outcomes are measured every 3 months during the academic school year.

Conclusion: The overall goal of SICAS is to complete the first study of its kind to better understand school-specific urban environmental factors on childhood asthma morbidity. We also discuss the unique challenges related to school-based urban research and lessons being learned from recruiting such a cohort.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Interest

All authors do not have any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could influence (bias) their work. We have no disclosures of any affiliation with any organization with a financial interest, direct or indirect, in the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript (such as consultancies, employment, paid expert testimony, honoraria, speakers bureaus, retainers, stock options or ownership, patents or patent applications or travel grants) that may affect the conduct or reporting of the work submitted.

References

    1. Silverstein MD, Mair JE, Katusic SK, Wollan PC, O’Connell EJ, Yunginger JW. School attendance and school performance: a population-based study of children with asthma. J Pediatr. 2001;139(2):278–283. - PubMed
    1. Platts-Mills TA, Blumenthal K, Perzanowski M, Woodfolk JA. Determinants of clinical allergic disease. The relevance of indoor allergens to the increase in asthma. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 2000;162(3 Pt 2):S128–133. - PubMed
    1. Custovic A, Green R, Taggart SC, Smith A, Pickering CA, Chapman MD, Woodcock A. Domestic allergens in public places. II: Dog (Can f1) and cockroach (Bla g 2) allergens in dust and mite, cat, dog and cockroach allergens in the air in public buildings. Clin Exp Allergy. 1996;26(11):1246–1252. - PubMed
    1. Tortolero SR, Bartholomew LK, Tyrrell S, Abramson SL, Sockrider MM, Markham CM, Whitehead LW, Parcel GS. Environmental allergens and irritants in schools: a focus on asthma. J Sch Health. 2002;72(1):33–38. - PubMed
    1. Sarpong SB, Wood RA, Karrison T, Eggleston PA. Cockroach allergen (Bla g 1) in school dust. Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology. 1997;99(4):486–492. - PubMed

Publication types