The high prevalence of childhood asthma in low-income, inner-city populations is not fully understood but has been at least partly attributed to the disproportionate exposures associated with socioeconomic disadvantage. The contribution of indoor allergens to asthma is well documented, but links between socioeconomic disadvantage and indoor allergen levels are not clear. We investigated levels of cockroach allergens (Bla g 2) in a sample of 132 Dominican or African American low-income households with young children in northern Manhattan in New York City (40% were receiving public assistance) to determine whether the distribution of allergens is a function of housing deterioration. Deterioration was measured by the presence and number of physical housing problems (holes in the ceilings and walls, water damage, etc.). More than 50% of the sample had two or more types of housing dilapidation, and 67% of the sample reported cockroach sightings in their homes. Samples of dust were collected from kitchen and bedroom surfaces. We hypothesized that the greater the dilapidation, the higher the allergen levels, independent of income, sociocultural factors, and pest-control methods. In addition, we hypothesized that the homes of families characterized by frequent moves (23.5%) would have higher allergen levels than more stable families. Results showed significant positive associations between housing deterioration and allergen levels in kitchens, after adjusting for income and ethnicity, with independent effects of residential stability (p< 0.05). Bedroom allergen levels were associated with housing instability (p < 0.01) and ethnicity (p< 0.01). Findings demonstrated that indoor household allergen levels are related to degree of household disrepair, after adjusting for individual family attributes, suggesting that social-structural aspects of housing may be appropriate targets for public health interventions designed to reduce allergen exposure.
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机译：尚未完全了解低收入城市人口中儿童哮喘的高发病率，但至少部分归因于与社会经济劣势相关的不成比例的暴露。室内过敏原对哮喘的贡献已得到充分证明，但社会经济劣势与室内过敏原水平之间的联系尚不清楚。我们在纽约市北部曼哈顿的132个多米尼加或有小孩的非洲裔美国低收入家庭样本中调查了蟑螂过敏原（Bla g 2）的水平（40％正在接受公共援助），以确定过敏原的分布是否为住房恶化的功能。恶化情况是通过实际住房问题（天花板和墙壁上的孔，水损坏等）的存在和数量来衡量的。超过50％的样本有两种或两种以上的房屋破损类型，而67％的样本报告家中发现了蟑螂。从厨房和卧室表面收集灰尘样品。我们假设破损程度越大，过敏原水平越高，而与收入，社会文化因素和害虫控制方法无关。此外，我们假设以频繁移动为特征的家庭（23.5％）的住房比更稳定的家庭具有更高的过敏原水平。结果显示，在调整收入和种族之后，住房恶化与厨房变应原水平之间存在显着的正相关性，而住房稳定性具有独立影响（p <0.05）。卧室过敏原水平与房屋的不稳定性（p <0.01）和种族（p <0.01）有关。研究结果表明，在调整个人家庭属性后，室内家庭过敏原水平与家庭失修程度有关，这表明住房的社会结构方面可能是旨在减少过敏原暴露的公共卫生干预措施的适当目标。
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