Articles

Relevance of Alternaria to asthma symptoms and exhaled NO among NYC children

Soffer, Nitzan; Green, Brett J.; Acosta, Luis M.; Divjan, Adnan; Sobek, Edward; Lemons, Angela R.; Rundle, Andrew G.; Jacobson, Judith S.; Goldstein, Inge; Miller, Rachel L.; Perzanowski, Matthew S.

The importance of domestic Alternaria exposure to allergic disease in urban communities is underrecognized relative to cockroach, dust mite, and mouse exposures. Concentrations of Alternaria are higher in outdoor than in indoor air; however, dampness, leaks, and resident behaviors can influence fungal penetrance and secondary growth indoors. Moreover, given the amount of time children spend indoors, domestic exposure may contribute more than outdoor exposure to asthma morbidity.

Byproducts from fossil fuel combustion are common in urban air and are the most well-established anthropogenic environmental adjuvants of allergic sensitization. Black carbon and elemental carbon (EC), indicators of combustion exposure, vary across cities such as New York (NYC) because of vehicle and residential heating sources. Among NYC children, we previously demonstrated an interaction between exposure to combustion byproducts and cockroach allergen on cockroach sensitization and an association between black carbon measured inside homes and fractional exhaled nitric oxide (Feno), a marker of airway inflammation. Therefore, combustion byproducts might enhance the effect of fungal exposure on allergic disease outcomes among NYC children.

We hypothesized that, among NYC children, (1) sensitization to Alternaria alternata would be associated with increased asthma symptoms, (2) domestic exposure to A alternata would be associated with increased Feno, and (3) the association with Feno would be modified by neighborhood EC concentrations.

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Title
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2018.04.043

More About This Work

Academic Units
Environmental Health Sciences
Epidemiology
Medicine
Published Here
December 10, 2018