Monitoring internal air quality within a community of known respiratory health status

It is widely believed that indoor air pollution plays an important part in the development of sensitisation and triggering of symptoms of respiratory diseases but to date its causal effect has not been established. With this in mind a study was designed to examine the effect of exposure of children between the ages of 4 and 15 years to a number of indoor chemical pollutants, endotoxins, allergens and damp. The sample population has been selected from the database of the Wythenshawe Community Asthma Project (WyCAP) in Manchester UK. Trials were conducted before the onset of the sampling programme in order to validate the methodology. The sampling programme is now in progress and it is anticipated that overall the programme will span two years with data analysis taking place throughout the study. The indoor air pollutants and contaminants whose concentrations are measured and monitored include: High Risk RSP (respirable suspended particulate (PM-2.5)), ETS (environmental tobacco smoke), VOCs (volatile organic compounds), NOx (oxides of nitrogen), formaldehyde, endotoxin, house dust mite allergen, the presence of visible or measurable damp, and mould and fungal allergen levels. In addition, temperature and humidity are monitored to assess their role in the expression of asthma in young children.