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Evaluation of the Environmental Scoring System in Multiple Child Asthma Intervention Programs in Boston,
Zhao Dong1, Anjali Nath1, Jing Guo1
1Zhao Dong and Gary Adamkiewicz are with the Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA. Anjali Nath is with the Division of Healthy Homes and Community Supports, Community Initiatives Bureau, Boston Public Health Commission. Jing Guo is with the Asthma Prevention and Control Program, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Boston. Urmi Bhaumik is with the Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine and Office of Community Health, Boston Children's Hospital. May Y. Chin is with the Asthma Prevention and Management Initiative, Tufts Medical Center, Boston. Sherry Dong is with the Community Health Improvement Programs, Tufts Medical Center. Erica Marshall is with the Division of Prevention and Wellness, Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Johnna S. Murphy is with the Boston Medical Center and Boston Public Health Commission. Megan T. Sandel is with the Boston Medical Center and Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health. Susan J. Sommer is with the Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital. W. W. Sanouri Ursprung is with the Office of Statistics and Evaluation, Bureau of Community Health and Prevention, Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Elizabeth R. Woods is with the Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, Boston. Margaret Reid is with the Office of Health Equity, Boston Public Health Commission.
Objectives:
To test the applicability of the Environmental Scoring System, a quick and simple approach for quantitatively measuring environmental triggers collected during home visits, and to evaluate its contribution to improving asthma outcomes among various child asthma programs.
Methods:
We pooled and analyzed data from multiple child asthma programs in the Greater Boston Area, Massachusetts, collected in 2011 to 2016, to examine the association of environmental scores (ES) with measures of asthma outcomes and compare the results across programs.
Results:
Our analysis showed that demographics were important contributors to variability in asthma outcomes and total ES, and largely explained the differences among programs at baseline. Among all programs in general, we found that asthma outcomes were significantly improved and total ES significantly reduced over visits, with the total Asthma Control Test score negatively associated with total ES.
Conclusions:
Our study demonstrated that the Environmental Scoring System is a useful tool for measuring home asthma triggers and can be applied regardless of program and survey designs, and that demographics of the target population may influence the improvement in asthma outcomes.
