The National Institutes of Health study, reported in today's The
New England Journal of Medicine, showed that an environmental
intervention designed to reduce allergen levels in the home
indeed led to a marked reduction of irritants. As a result,
children living in these homes had fewer problems with their
asthma "Indoor allergens play an important role in the asthma
severity in these children," said Dr. Rebecca Gruchalla, chief
of allergy at UT Southwestern and a study author. "We can't just
focus on medications. We must also focus on allergen triggers in
the home and work with caretakers to decrease or even eliminate
these allergens." Researchers followed more than 900 children
ages 5 to 11 with asthma who live in inner-city areas in New
York City, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Seattle/Tacoma, Wash., and
Tucson, Ariz. Research teams went to individual households and
initiated measures to decrease levels of dust mite, cockroach,
dog, cat, rat, mouse and mold allergens. An additional focus was
on tobacco smoke. Ca