Grant Baldwin, PhD, MPH, CHES¹, Edith A. Parker, DrPH², Barbara A. Israel, DrPH³, Thomas G. Robins, MD, MPH⁴, Gerald J. Keeler, PhD⁵, Xhong Lin⁶, Katherine Edgren, MSW², and Maria A. Salinas, AS⁵. (1) Division of Health Education and Promotion, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 1600 Clifton Rd, NE, MS E-42, Atlanta, GA 30333, 4044980526, GBaldwin@cdc.gov, (2) Department of Health Behavior & Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health, 1420 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029, (3) Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan, School of Public Health, 1420 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, (4) Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan School of Public Health, 1420 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, (5) School of Public Health, University of Michigan, 1420 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, (6) Biostatistics/School of Public Health, University of Michigan, 1420 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI 48109

The purpose of this presentation is to describe the frequency of asthma triggers in the homes of a sample of three hundred and eighteen asthmatic children in eastside and southwest Detroit, Michigan using an observational assessment. The data for this presentation is from the Community Action Against Asthma (CAAA) project of the Michigan Center for the Environment and Children's Health (MCECH). The majority of the data is from a baseline household walkthrough (HWT) in which trained community members visited the homes of CAAA participants to identify asthma triggers via visual inspection. This presentation will also highlight the creation of allergen or irritant-specific composite scores. The composite scores account for direct or indirect evidence of exposure to allergens or irritants in the home environment. The greatest evidence of exposure was found for environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), cockroaches, rodents, fungi/mold, and dust mites. Approximately a quarter of CAAA participants were exposed to a combination of five allergens or irritants. Few caregivers reported the use of allergen or irritant control strategies or few homes had physical evidence of control strategies. Finally, there were modest positive correlations between the HWT composite scores and allergen levels measured in dust samples from the same homes. Observational methods to assess allergen or irritant exposure offer a low cost and easy to perform method to assess the home environment. Adequate characterization of allergen or irritant exposure requires comprehensive assessment of multiple rooms in the home environment.

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