Use of air purifiers in the home to improve asthma outcomes in children and young people (CYP): pilot study follow-up

<bold>Background:</bold> Poor indoor air quality (IAQ) has a significant impact on asthma control and symptoms. There is a need for novel ‘prescribable’ interventions addressing this to be evaluated, such as use of medical-grade air purifiers in the home. <bold>Aims:</bold> To assess if installation of air purifiers in the homes of CYP with asthma improves asthma outcomes and is acceptable to CYP and families. <bold>Methods:</bold> In this 12 month pilot study, 20 randomly selected CYP with asthma attending our clinic had an air puffier (Rensair Ltd.) installed in July 2023. Alongside HEPA filtration, these air purifiers have built-in antimicrobial technology (bacteria, viruses and mould spores) with numerous biovalidation reports substantiating their ability to improve IAQ. Baseline clinical and IAQ data were collected. Follow-up clinical data (including unscheduled healthcare asthma visits and rescue steroid bursts) and patient/parent reported outcomes (symptom control/reliever medication use and CYP/family perspectives on use of an air purifier as a ‘prescribable’ intervention) is being prospectively collected. <bold>Results:</bold> To date (6 months of follow-up), 75% of families are using the air purifier in their homes constantly (24hours/day), 25% intermittently. 84.2% of parents and two-thirds of CYP report that their (child’s) asthma symptoms have improved since having the air purifier installed. Use of reliever medication (>4 times/week) has reduced from 63% to 53%. <bold>Discussion:</bold> Patient/parent reported outcome measures suggest improvement in asthma symptoms after installation of the air purifier however ongoing follow-up to 12 months (accounting for seasonality) will allow analysis of clinical outcomes.