School Inner-City Asthma Intervention Study (SICAS-2)

Our proposal builds upon our established, successful school-based infrastructure to determine
whether a school/classroom intervention will efficiently and effectively improve asthma
morbidity by reducing these exposures. Our goal is to determine the efficacy of
school/classroom based environmental intervention in reducing asthma morbidity in urban
schoolchildren. Our central hypothesis is that reducing classroom/school exposure to mouse
allergen, mold, and particulate pollutants will decrease asthma morbidity in students with
asthma. The investigators plan to test this hypothesis in an intervention study of 300
elementary students with asthma from multiple classrooms in inner-city elementary schools.
Our clinical trial aims are to determine the effectiveness of a school/classroom based
environmental intervention (school integrated pest management and classroom air purifying
filter units within these schools) to reduce asthma morbidity. Our mechanistic aim is to test
the hypothesis that effects of school/classroom-based environmental interventions on
symptoms/other measures of asthma control occur through changes in gene methylation or
expression in pathways (and secondarily, in genes) relevant to airway function and asthma.
This will expand our understanding of asthma immunopathogenesis and create opportunities to
identify potential novel targets for asthma therapy.

Inclusion Criteria:

- grades K-8 with asthma attending sampling/intervention schools

Exclusion Criteria:

- moving schools