TOPIC OF CONCERN - Asthma

Our Involvement | Research | Other Resources

About Asthma

Asthma (Az-muh) is a chronic disease that affects your airways. The airways are the tubes (bronchi and bronchioles) that carry air in and out of your lungs. Hallmarks of asthma are reversible airway disease, chronic airway inflammation and remodeling, shortness of breath, and wheezing. Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood. Many individuals with asthma are atopic, that is, there have allergies. There are three primary causes of airway obstruction in asthma. 1) bronchoconstriction of airway smooth muscle, inflammation and swelling, and proliferation of mucus. These three conditions obstruct flow in and out of the lung. If you have asthma, the inside walls of your airways are inflamed (swollen). The inflammation makes the airways very sensitive, and they tend to react strongly to things that you are allergic to or find irritating. When the airways react, they get narrower, and less air flows through to your lung tissue. This causes symptoms like wheezing (a whistling sound when you breathe), coughing, chest tightness, and trouble breathing, especially at night and in the early morning. Both genetics and environment influence the onset and aggravation of asthma. Common environmental agents that trigger an asthma attack are house dust mites, environmental tobacco smoke, outdoor air pollutants, pet danders, cockroaches, molds, pollen and certain foods.

Asthma cannot be cured, but most people with asthma can control it so that they have few and infrequent symptoms and can live active lives.

– National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

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Our Involvement

Faculty

Courses

ENV H 517 Children's Environmental Health
ENV H 449 Health effects of air pollution

Environmental Health News, Autumn 2004 -- Air Pollution and Human Health

Environmental Health News, Spring/Summer 2003 -- Respiratory Diseases

Spokane Spokesman-Review, June 8, 2004 -- 2002 field smoke study encouraging

Research

Graduate Students

Nilo Arnaiz, MPH (2001): Genetic factors in the development of an asthma-like condition while employed in an aluminum smelter potroom (Joel Kaufman)

Eva Dale, MS (2004): Effect of PM2.5 on exhaled nitric oxide; A HEPA intervention field study (Larson)

Carrie Fields, MS (2003): Measurement of PM2.5 concentrations and cardiorespiratory health effect in adult subjects. (Koenig)

Katia Harb, MS (2003): Cardiopulmonary effects of 300 ppb nitrogen dioxide in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma patients (Jane Koenig)

Jiho Huang, MPH (2000): Traffic counts and emergency department visits for childhood asthma (Carl A. Brodkin)

Hossein Siahpush, MS (2001): Longitudinal study of asthma-like and other symptoms in aluminum smelter workers (Joel Kaufman)

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Arnaiz NO, Kaufman J, Daroowalla F, Quigley S, Farin F, Checkoway H. A study of genetic factors and asthma in aluminum smelter workers. Arch Environ Health 2003;58:197-200.

Arnaiz NO, Kaufman JD. New developments in work-related asthma. Clin Chest Med 2002;23(4):737-747.

Delfino RJ, Quintana PJE, Floro J, Gastañaga VM, Samimi BS, Kleinman MT, Bufalino C, Liu L J Sally, Wu CF, McLaren CE. Association of FEV1 with personal and microenvironmental exposure to airborne particulate matter in asthmatic children. Environ Health Perspect 112 (8): 932-941, 2004.

Koenig JQ, Mar TF, Allen RW, Jansen K, Lumley T, Sullivan JH, Trenga CA, Larson T, Liu LJ. Pulmonary effects of indoor- and outdoor-generated particles in children with asthma. Environ Health Perspect. 2005 Apr;113(4):499-503.

Mar TF, Larson TV, Stier RA, Claiborn C, Koenig JQ. An analysis of the association between respiratory symptoms in subjects with asthma and daily air pollution in Spokane, Washington. Inhal Toxicol. 2004 Dec 1;16(13):809-15.

Nga NN, Chai SK, Bihn TT, Redding G, Takaro T, Checkoway H, Son PH, Van DK, Keifer M, Trungle V, Barnhart S. ISAAC-based asthma and atopic symptoms among Ha Noi school children. Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2003; 14(4):272-9.

Rabinovitch N, Zhang L, Murphy J, Vedal S, Dutton S, Gelfand EW. Effects of wintertime ambient air pollution on asthma exacerbations in urban minority children with moderate to severe disease. J Allerg Clin Immunol 2004; 114(5): 1131-1137.

Schildcrout JS, Sheppard L, Lumley T, Slaughter JC, Koenig JQ, Shapiro GG. Ambient air pollution and asthma exacerbations in children: an eight-city analysis. Am J Epidemiol. 2006 Sep 15;164(6):505-17.

Slaughter C, Lumley T, Sheppard L, Koenig J, Shapiro GS. Effects of ambient air pollution on symptom severity and medication use in children with asthma. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 2003; 91:346-353

Takaro TK, Krieger JW, Song,L. Effect of environmental interventions to reduce exposure to asthma triggers in homes of low-income children in Seattle. J Expo Anal Environ Epidemiol 2004; 14 Suppl 1:S133-43.

Wallace LA, Mitchell H, O’Connor GT, Neas L, Lippmann M, Koenig J, Kattan M, Stout JM, Vaughn BJ, Wallace D, Walter M, Liu L-JS. particle concentrations in inner-city homes of children with asthma: the effect of smoking, cooking, and outdoor pollution. Environmental Health Perspectives 2003; 111(9):1265-1272.

Wu CF, Delfino RJ, Floro JN, Quintana PJE, Samimi BS, Kleinman MT, Allen RW, Liu L-JS. Exposure assessment and modeling of particulate matter for asthmatic children using personal nephelometers. Atmospheric Environment 2005;39:3457–3469.

Conference Presentations

Koenig JQ, Mar TF, Hallstrand T, Szefler S, Covar R. Relationship between airway inflammation and air pollution in children with asthma in Denver CAMP, American Thoracic Society, May 18-23, 2007, San Francisco

Koenig JQ, Mar TF, Jansen K, Stapleton P, Farin F, Larson TV. GST status and associations between PM2.5 and FeNO in children with asthma, American Thoracic Society, May 19–24, 2006, San Diego

Mar TF, Koenig JQ, Schreuder AB, Larson TV, Lumley T, Covert DS. Wintertime emergency department visits for asthma in children: Associations with airborne concentrations of fine particle mass, total fine particle carbon and ultrafine number count, American Thoracic Society, May 19–24, 2006, San Diego

Mar TF, Koenig JQ, Schreuder AB, Lumley T, Covert DS, Larson TV. Seasonal associations between Seattle fine particles, total carbon and emergency department visits for asthma in children, American Thoracic Society, May 18-23, 2007, San Francisco

Negash AA, Jansen KL, Mar TF, Koenig JQ. Respiratory effects of sulfur dioxide exposure in people with asthma, American Thoracic Society, May 18-23, 2007, San Francisco

Sullivan JH, Peretz A, Carlsten C, Moody MM, Trenga CA, Jansen KA, Kaufman JD, Stewart JA, Bammler TK, Hallstrand TS. Genomic analysis of the effects of diesel exhaust particles on asthmatic airways, American Thoracic Society, May 19–24, 2006, San Diego

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