Environ Health Glob
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Environ Health Glob · Aug 2008
Control of asthma triggers in indoor air with air cleaners: a modeling analysis.
Reducing exposure to environmental agents indoors shown to increase asthma symptoms or lead to asthma exacerbations is an important component of a strategy to manage asthma for individuals. Numerous investigations have demonstrated that portable air cleaning devices can reduce concentrations of asthma triggers in indoor air; however, their benefits for breathing problems have not always been reproducible. The potential exposure benefits of whole house high efficiency in-duct air cleaners for sensitive subpopulations have yet to be evaluated. ⋯ These findings are useful for evaluating potential benefits of high efficiency in-duct filtration systems for controlling exposure to asthma triggers indoors and for the design of trials of environmental interventions intended to evaluate their utility in practice.
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Environ Health Glob · Jun 2008
Modelling prevalence and incidence of fibrosis and pleural plaques in asbestos-exposed populations for screening and follow-up: a cross-sectional study.
CT-Scan is currently under assessment for the screening of asbestos-related diseases. However, to date no consensus exists as to how to select high-risk asbestos-exposed populations suitable for such screening programs. The objective of this study is to select the most relevant exposure variables for the prediction of pleural plaques and asbestosis in order to guide clinicians in their use of CT-Scan. ⋯ Our findings confirmed the role played by time since first exposure and dose but not duration in asbestos-related diseases. We recommend to include these parameters in high-risk populations suitable for screening of these diseases. Short-periodicity of survey of pleural plaques by CT-Scan seemed not to be warranted.
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Environ Health Glob · Apr 2008
ReviewVehicle emissions and consumer information in car advertisements.
The advertising of vehicles has been studied from a safety perspective but not in terms of vehicle air pollutants. We aimed to examine the content and trends of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution-related information, in light passenger vehicle advertisements. ⋯ To enhance informed consumer choice and to control greenhouse gas and air pollution emissions, governments should introduce regulations on the content of vehicle advertisements and marketing (as started by the European Union). Similar regulations are already in place for the marketing of many other consumer products.
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Environ Health Glob · Jan 2008
Complaints of the arm, neck and shoulder among computer office workers in Sudan: a prevalence study with validation of an Arabic risk factors questionnaire.
Complaints of the arm, neck and/or shoulders (CANS) in general and computer-related disorders in particular affect millions of computer office workers in Western developed countries. However, with the widespread use of computer systems in developing countries, the associated musculoskeletal complaints are yet to be investigated. ⋯ The prevalence of CANS among the targeted population seems to correspond strongly with prevalence of CANS in Western developed countries. The Arabic translation of the MUEQ has satisfactory psychometric properties to be used to assess work-related risk factors for the development of CANS among computer office workers in Sudan.
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Environ Health Glob · Jan 2007
Pediatric patient asthma-related emergency department visits and admissions in Washington, DC, from 2001-2004, and associations with air quality, socio-economic status and age group.
The District of Columbia (DC) Department of Health, under a grant from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, established an Environmental Public Health Tracking Program. As part of this program, the goals of this contextual pilot study are to quantify short-term associations between daily pediatric emergency department (ED) visits and admissions for asthma exacerbations with ozone and particulate concentrations, and broader associations with socio-economic status and age group. ⋯ Significant associations were found between ozone concentrations and asthma-related ED visits, especially for 5-12 year olds. The result that the most significant ozone associations were not seen in the age group (1-4 yrs) with the highest rate of asthma-related ED visits may be related to the clinical difficulty in accurately diagnosing asthma among this age group. We observed real increases in relative risk of asthma ED visits for children living in higher poverty zip codes versus other zip codes, as well as similar logarithmic relationships for visits and admissions, which implies ED over-utilization may not be a factor. These results could suggest designs for future epidemiological studies that include more information on individual exposures and other risk factors.