Head-off Environmental Asthma in Louisiana
Addressing childhood asthma in post-Katrina New Orleans

Principal Investigators:  Maureen Lichtveld, MD, MPH, and LuAnn White, PhD, DABT

Asthma prevalence in children is on the rise in the United States, especially among minority, inner-city children.  Up to 24% of minority children living in cities like New Orleans may have asthma.  Asthma is the number one reason children miss school due to chronic illness, and the second leading cause of children's emergency department visits.  These rapidly increasing rates of asthma are thought to be related in part to increases in allergies and environmental exposures, such as mold, moisture and other allergens.  Another factor that fuels the exacerbation of asthma is the lack of access to health care.  In New Orleans and in many other cities, both poor access to health care and environmental exposures to mold and allergens are likely to contribute to asthma at the same time.  The post-Katrina New Orleans environment presents an opportunity to study methods that promote better medical management and safer home environments in an effort to improve the health of local children with asthma.

The Head-off Environmental Asthma in Louisiana (HEAL) Project is a collaborative research project conducted in conjunction with the New Orleans Department of Health.  The purpose of the project is to learn about the effects of mold and other indoor allergens on children with asthma in post-Katrina New Orleans.  The HEAL Project will also attempt to determine if some children develop asthma because of certain genes.  The project is funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  It is being conducted in the New Orleans area over the next 30 months.

The primary objective of the HEAL study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a novel asthma case management intervention, emphasizing environmental risk control.  This project tests the hypothesis that morbidity can be reduced among children with moderate to severe asthma by an enhanced Asthma Counselor program that provides both asthma case management and guidance for addressing environmental exposures such as moisture, mold, and allergens. 

Participants in the HEAL Project receive an examination for their child with asthma by a Pediatric Asthma Specialist, including allergy testing.  The levels of mold and other indoor allergens are also measured in the homes of these families.  Asthma Counselors will be available to some families to assist with improving access to health care and safer home environments for their child with asthma.  Children ages 4-12 with moderate to severe asthma may be eligible to enroll in this project. 

Multiple recruitment methods will target schools and school nurses, health care clinics and emergency departments, and referrals through MEDICAID and primary care physicians.  The PRC's Community Advisory Board was actively involved in recruiting study participants.