Clean Air Interventions for Milwaukee Child Cares

Understanding the impact of poor indoor air quality on children in child care centers in Milwaukee County

Full Project Name:Clean Air Interventions for Milwaukee Child CaresPrincipal Investigator:Joshua Steinberg, MD, PediatricsAward Amount:$400,000

Award Date

October2020

Project Duration:42 months

Project Summary:

In Wisconsin, one out of every 13 children has asthma. Urban pre-school children are disproportionately impacted. Among children under the age of 5, asthma hospitalizations within Milwaukee County are nearly double that of the state, and asthma-related emergency visit rates are nearly 1.5 times higher. Poor indoor air quality is associated with wheeze and asthma development, and pre-school children spend most of their time indoors often at child care centers with poor air quality.

Through this award, project investigators will study Milwaukee County child care centers to objectively assess indoor air quality and relevant behaviors, wheezing prevalence, and the effectiveness of interventions like HEPA filters and policy support.

Outcomes & Lessons Learned:

Accomplished the development of a new irritant/allergen walkthrough educational curriculum and an educational curriculum for childcare staff to use for continuing education credits (co-developed with University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee nursing students and FAMAllies), both distributed via online modalities. In-person education in the facilities was abandoned due to pandemic-related obstacles.
Commercial-grade air quality monitors were deployed to nearly all childcare facilities. Additional leveraged funds were able to obtain quantitative multiple volatile organic chemical concentrations assessments in nearly all childcare centers enrolled.
Parent engagement was unexpectedly poor, leading to the likely need to abandon statistical evaluation of parent survey responses and child wheeze responses due to insufficient numbers.
Preliminary findings include exceedances of volatile organic chemicals and carbon dioxide during occupancy periods within most childcare centers, as well as nearly universal exposures in observed childcare centers to xylenes, naphthalene, straight chain aliphatics and trimethyl benzene, and other common chemical exposure. Smoking and air freshener use within facilities were identified.
Disseminated research findings via a poster presentation at the Wisconsin Public Health Association 2024 Annual Conference in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, in May 2024
Two University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee graduate nursing students utilized components of this project towards their graduate capstone projects.