Asthma affects 25 million Americans, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects 16 million, together costing 130 billion USD annually to the US healthcare system. Asthma is more prevalent in African American population (10.6%) than white population (7.7%). Poverty level has an impact as well, with twice as much asthma incidence in people below 100% of the poverty threshold as compared to people above 450% of the threshold. Racial-ethnic and socioeconomic health disparities in the US due to air pollution exposure are well documented and have persisted despite overall decreases in ozone and particulate matter pollution. This disproportionate exposure reflects generations of discriminatory practices including racially-segregated residential policies that result in communities of color being more frequently located near major sources of air pollution, both industrial and transportation-related. The proposed research project seeks to address health disparities related to air pollution by enabling self-monitoring of environmental triggers of asthma and other respiratory diseases, so that the patients are empowered for self-management of their disease. This study will develop and test a wearable sensor array with a small form-factor for monitoring personal exposure to several important air pollutants, and then pilot this device in a small panel of African-American adults with physiciandiagnosed asthma. The device will be sensitive to a variety of primary and secondary pollutants from both motorvehicle traffic and industrial emissions. It will employ metal oxide semiconductor sensors to measure ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and volatile organic compounds as well as relative humidity and ambient temperature. The device will be able to connect to Bluetooth-enabled smartphones for data logging and display purposes, yet it will be small enough to be worn on the wrist. We will validate the utility of this device for improving health by recruiting 20 African-American adults who live in the Atlanta area and have been diagnosed with asthma. These participants will use the device to monitor their air pollution exposure for one month. During this month, they will also measure their lung function twice per day using a small commercially-available spirometer that we will provide them. We will develop a smartphone application that will clearly display air quality data in an intuitive color-coded display. The app will also include lung function data from spirometry in a percent-predicted score relative to expected values based on age, height, sex and race. The overall goal of this project is to demonstrate the feasibility of a wearable device to assist in the identification of air pollution-related asthma triggers and to empower asthma patients to improve their health by reducing exposure.
Public Health Relevance Statement: Project Narrative This study will improve health in racial/ethnic and socioeconomic minorities with health disparities by enabling them to identify air pollution triggers of asthma in personal microenvironments. We will develop and test a device that can be worn on the wrist and measures personal exposure to air pollution in both indoor and outdoor microenvironments. Study participants will also monitor their lung function, and we will develop a smartphone application that displays both air pollution and lung function, so that asthma and COPD patients can proactively monitor environmental triggers in real-time and benefit from self-management of their disease.
Project Terms: 21+ years old; Adult Human; adulthood; Adult; Affect; ages; Age; Air; Air Pollutants; Air Pollution; Asthma; Bronchial Asthma; Calibration; Color; Communities; Diagnosis; Disease; Disorder; Electronics; electronic; electronic device; Elements; Environmental Exposure; Environmental Monitoring; Ecologic Monitoring; Ecological Monitoring; environmental testing; Environmental Pollution; environmental contamination; Exhibits; Gases; Goals; Health; Healthcare Systems; Health Care Systems; Heterogeneity; Housing; Humidity; Incidence; indexing; Industrialization; Laboratories; Morbidity - disease rate; Morbidity; mortality; Persons; Nitrogen Dioxide; NO2; Nitrogen Peroxide; Ozone; O3; Patients; Physicians; Pilot Projects; pilot study; Poverty; Impoverished; Race; Races; racial; racial background; racial origin; Reaction Time; Response RT; Response Time; psychomotor reaction time; Research; Risk; Public Health Schools; Self Care; personal care; Semiconductors; Signal Transduction; Cell Communication and Signaling; Cell Signaling; Intracellular Communication and Signaling; Signal Transduction Systems; Signaling; biological signal transduction; Spatial Distribution; Spirometry; Temperature; Testing; Time; Transportation; United States; Universities; Wrist; Generations; Measures; Health Costs; Healthcare Costs; Health Care Costs; Afro American; Afroamerican; African American; Self Management; Socio-economic status; socio-economic position; socioeconomic position; Socioeconomic Status; Motor Vehicles; sensor; improved; Home Care; patient homecare; patient home care; Site; Area; Surface; Phase; Chemicals; lung function; pulmonary function; intuitive; Intuition; Groups at risk; People at risk; Persons at risk; Populations at Risk; Policies; Measurement; Ethnicity; Ethnic Origin; R-Series Research Projects; R01 Mechanism; R01 Program; Research Grants; Research Projects; Research Project Grants; Collaborations; Exposure to; Pollution; Distant; Source; Height; American; metal oxide; metropolitan; environmental monitoring device; environmental testing device; cohort; pollutant; Participant; empowerment; Devices; Reporting; Code; Coding System; response; portability; Cell Phone; Cellular Telephone; Mobile Phones; iPhone; smart phone; smartphone; Cellular Phone; disparity in health; health disparity; Address; Lab On A Chip; Symptoms; Data; Detection; Reproducibility; Monitor; sex; socioeconomics; socio-economic; socio-economically; socioeconomically; Particulate Matter; cost; asthma patient; asthmatic patient; designing; design; Minority; airway epithelium inflammation; respiratory inflammation; respiratory tract inflammation; airway inflammation; conditioning; Outcome; Population; innovate; innovative; innovation; resistant; Resistance; volatile organic chemical; volatile organic compound; prototype; signal processing; personal exposure monitor; Airway health; respiratory health; microsensor; PM2.5; fine particulate matter; fine particles; recruit; Android App; Android Application; Cell Phone Application; Cell phone App; Cellular Phone App; Cellular Phone Application; Smart Phone App; Smart Phone Application; Smartphone App; cell phone based app; iOS app; iOS application; iPhone App; iPhone Application; mobile phone app; smartphone based app; smartphone based application; smartphone application; Bluetooth; sensing technology; sensor technology; body sensor; body worn sensor; wearable biosensor; wearable sensor; wearable sensor technology; wearable electronics; wearable system; wearable technology; wearable tool; wearables; wearable device; Atmosphere; asthma attack; exacerbation in asthma; exacerbation prone asthma; exacerbation prone asthmatic; asthma exacerbation; connected health; psychosocial stresses; psychosocial stressors; Systematic Racism; Systemic Racism; Institutional Racism; residential segregation; electronic sensor; electric sensor; wireless; miniaturized sensor; integrated circuit; Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease; COPD; Chronic Obstruction Pulmonary Disease; Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease; Respiratory Disease; Respiratory System Disease; Respiratory System Disorder; African American population; African American group; African American individual; African American people; African Americans; Racial Segregation; Disparity population; disadvantaged group; disadvantaged individual; disadvantaged people; disadvantaged population; disadvantaged subgroup; disparities across groups; disparity across subgroups; disparity among groups; disparity among subgroups; disparity between groups; disparity between subgroups; group disparity; group inequality; group inequity; inequalities among populations; inequalities between populations; inequalities in populations; inequality across populations; inequality among groups; inequality between groups; inequality in groups; inequities among populations; inequities between populations; inequities in populations; inequity across groups; inequity across populations; inequity between groups; inequity in groups; population inequality; population inequity; subgroup disparity; unequal group; unequal population; power consumption; battery life
