Exploring the impact of indoor pollution on uncontrolled asthma patients and their response to treatment

About the Project

Despite the increase in research on the indoor environment in recent years, significant knowledge gaps remain regarding exposure to indoor air pollution (IAP) in British homes [1-5]. IAP includes volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particulate matter (PM), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), mould and allergens [6, 7]. Several of these pollutants have established impacts on human health [1]. Health implications are amplified by the fact that the average person spends approximately 90% of their time indoors [8], with a substantial proportion of this in residential settings.

Asthma is the most common lung disease in the UK, affecting 8 in 100 people. Despite inhalers, most asthma is ‘uncontrolled’ [9], which means people experience regular breathing symptoms or asthma attacks. Uncontrolled asthma affects quality of life[10] and is expensive for healthcare services [11]. We know that outdoor air pollution, from traffic and industrial emissions, can cause uncontrolled asthma [12]. However, we lack knowledge on the impact of indoor pollution, which is especially pertinent, considering the high percentage of time spent indoors and the higher concentration of many pollutants found indoors compared to outdoors.

This project aims to gain a greater understanding of the impact of indoor pollution on uncontrolled asthma patients and its impact on lung function, symptoms and response to treatment, as well as to investigate whether environmental exposures contribute to health inequalities.

The student will run a pilot study to characterise indoor pollution in uncontrolled asthma patients and investigate its impact on the patients. The student will recruit adult uncontrolled asthma patients, defined as asthma patients who do not respond to their treatment, or asthma patients who experience more than 3 asthma exacerbations per year. The student will quantify the concentration of particulates, chemicals and moulds in the homes. In addition to analysing the indoor pollution composition in the houses, the student will measure the lung function of adult uncontrolled asthma patients, report their symptoms during the sampling week and their response to treatment, to investigate the impact of indoor pollution on uncontrolled asthma.

The project objectives are:

1. Characterise indoor pollution in homes to particulates, chemicals and moulds.
2. Investigate the impact of indoor pollution on adult uncontrolled asthma patients’ lung function and symptoms, as well as their response to treatment.
3. Investigate whether environmental exposures contribute to health inequalities.

Project enquiries to Professor Anna Hansell ah618@leicester.ac.uk