Effects of Indoor Air Purifiers on Children with Asthma
Ga Hee Lee, Jeong Hee Kim, Sungroul Kim, Sangwoon Lee, Dae Hyun Lim
Abstract
PURPOSE: To evaluate the effects of air purifiers on the concentrations of indoor air pollutants and on asthma control in children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: and CO₂ were measured as indoor air pollutants. Asthma severity was assessed in terms of both symptom and medication scores acquired using a daily questionnaire. The higher the score, the better the symptom or the less frequent the use of medication. Peak expiratory flow rate and fractional exhaled nitric oxide were also measured. RESULTS: was 17.0 μg/m³ in the filter-off condition, but significantly lower at 9.26 μg/m³ in the filter-on condition. Medication scores were 6.9 for the filter-off and 7.12 for the filter-on conditions, reflecting a statistically significant decrease in the frequency of medications used during air purifier operation. Bacterial richness, as determined using the Chao 1 index, was markedly lower in the filter-on than the filter-off condition. CONCLUSION: levels.