A tailored approach, involving cockroach extermination and using air cleaners to reduce dust, smoke and levels of other indoor allergens may consequently reduce asthma symptoms in inner-city children, new study findings suggest.
“My bottom line is that you can change the environment in inner-city homes,” study author Dr. Peyton A. Eggleston, of the Baltimore, Maryland-based Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told Reuters Health. As the level of allergens is reduced, “asthma symptoms of the kids living in those homes is improved,” he said.
Various reports have pointed to indoor allergen and pollutant levels as important contributors to the disproportionate burden of asthma carried by inner-city children. In the current study, Eggleston and his colleagues created a multifaceted intervention that combined strategies to reduce children’s exposure to allergens and other asthma triggers.
Eggleston stressed that the parents of children with asthma should not neglect regular medical care and only make changes to their home environment to reduce their child’s symptoms.
“This isn’t a substitute for medicine but this is a good supplement,” he said.