The Clean Air Study High Efficiency Particulate Air HEPA Purifiers to Improve Indoor Air Quality and Health in Rural Alaska Homes

What this Trial Is About

Researchers are studying indoor air quality and respiratory health in Alaska Native children under 5 years old living in rural homes in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. This area has a high rate of respiratory illness, partly due to wood stove use and indoor tobacco smoke, which increase harmful particulate matter PM2.5 in the air. The study aims to evaluate how using HEPA air purifiers affects air quality and childrens respiratory symptoms in homes with these exposures. Participants will receive HEPA purifiers and air monitoring devices to use in their homes daily for 12 weeks. They will set up the equipment, operate it continuously, and report weekly on their childs respiratory symptoms by phone or text. After 12 weeks, the air monitoring equipment will be returned to the study team, but families will keep the HEPA purifiers. Throughout the study, researchers will measure indoor PM2.5 levels to assess air quality improvements and track symptom-free days reported for the child. The study involves weekly symptom reporting and equipment monitoring over the 12-week period. This helps evaluate the purifiers impact on reducing respiratory symptoms and improving air quality in these rural homes.

The Clean Air Study: HEPA Purifiers to Improve Indoor Air Quality and Health in Rural Alaska Homes