Personal NO sensor demonstrates feasibility of in-home exposure measurements for pediatric asthma research and management

Authors

R Scott Downen, Department of Biomedical Engineering, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
Quan Dong, Department of Biomedical Engineering, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
Elizabeth Chorvinsky, Department of Integrative Systems Biology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
Baichen Li, Department of Biomedical Engineering, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
Nam Tran, Department of Biomedical Engineering, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
James Hunter Jackson, Division of Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine, Children's National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA.
Dinesh K. Pillai, Department of Integrative Systems Biology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
Mona Zaghloul, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
Zhenyu Li, Department of Biomedical Engineering, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA. zhenyu@gwu.edu.

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

3-1-2022

Journal

Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology

Volume

32

Issue

2

DOI

10.1038/s41370-022-00413-0

Keywords

Gas appliances; Indoor NO2 exposure; Pediatric asthma; Personal exposome; Personal exposure sensors

Abstract

BACKGROUND: One of the most common pollutants in residences due to gas appliances, NO has been shown to increase the risk of asthma attacks after small increases in short term exposure. However, standard environmental sampling methods taken at the regional level overlook chronic intermittent exposure due to lack of temporal and spatial granularity. Further, the EPA and WHO do not currently provide exposure recommendations to at-risk populations. AIMS: A pilot study with pediatric asthma patients was conducted to investigate potential deployment challenges as well as benefits of home-based NO sensors and, when combined with a subject's hospital records and self-reported symptoms, the richness of data available for larger-scale epidemiological studies. METHODS: We developed a compact personal NO sensor with one minute temporal resolution and sensitivity down to 15 ppb to monitor exposure levels in the home. Patient hospital records were collected along with self-reported symptom diaries, and two example hypotheses were created to further demonstrate how data of this detail may enable study of the impact of NO in this sensitive population. RESULTS: 17 patients (55%) had at least 1 h each day with average NO exposure >21 ppb. Frequency of acute NO exposure >21 ppb was higher in the group with gas stoves (U = 27, p ≤ 0.001), and showed a positive correlation (r = 0.662, p = 0.037, 95% CI 0.36-0.84) with hospital admissions. SIGNIFICANCE: Similar studies are needed to evaluate the true impact of NO in the home environment on at-risk populations, and to provide further data to regulatory bodies when developing updated recommendations.

APA Citation

Scott Downen, R; Dong, Quan; Chorvinsky, Elizabeth; Li, Baichen; Tran, Nam; Jackson, James Hunter; Pillai, Dinesh K.; Zaghloul, Mona; and Li, Zhenyu, "Personal NO sensor demonstrates feasibility of in-home exposure measurements for pediatric asthma research and management" (2022). GW Authored Works. Paper 285.
https://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/gwhpubs/285

Department

Pediatrics