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Patrick J. Vojta,¹ Warren Friedman,² David A. Marker,³ Robert Clickner,³ John W. Rogers,³ Susan M. Viet,³ Michael L. Muilenberg,⁴ Peter S. Thorne,⁵ Samuel J. Arbes, Jr.,¹ and Darryl C. Zeldin¹

¹Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA; ²U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control, Washington, D.C., USA; ³Westat, Rockville, Maryland, USA; ⁴Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; ⁵Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA

Abstract

From July 1998 to August 1999, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences conducted the first National Survey of Lead and Allergens in Housing. The purpose of the survey was to assess children's potential household exposure to lead, allergens, and bacterial endotoxins. We surveyed a sample of 831 homes, representing 96 million permanently occupied, noninstitutional housing units that permit resident children. We administered questionnaires to household members, made home observations, and took environmental samples. This article provides general background information on the survey, an overview of the survey design, and a description of the data collection and laboratory methods pertaining to the allergen and endotoxin components. We collected dust samples from a bed, the bedroom floor, a sofa or chair, the living room floor, the kitchen floor, and a basement floor and analyzed them for cockroach allergen Bla g 1, the dust mite allergens Der f 1 and Der p 1, the cat allergen Fel d 1, the dog allergen Can f 1, the rodent allergens Rat n 1 and mouse urinary protein, allergens of the fungus Alternaria alternata, and endotoxin. This article provides the essential context for subsequent reports that will describe the prevalence of allergens and endotoxin in U.S. households, their distribution by various housing characteristics, and their associations with allergic diseases such as asthma and rhinitis. Key words: asthma, data collection, house dust mite, indoor allergens. Environ Health Perspect 110:527-532 (2002) . [Online 3 April 2002]

http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2002/110p527-532vojta/ abstract.html

Address correspondence to D.C. Zeldin, NIEHS, 111 Alexander Drive, Mail Drop D2-02, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 USA. Telephone: (919) 541-1169. Fax: (919) 541-4133. E-mail: zeldin@niehs.nih.gov

We thank the following Westat staff for their assistance with the survey: statistician P. Broene, field manager J. Wilson, and senior systems analyst D. Lowe ; we thank HUD staff D.E. Jacobs, P. Ashley, and J. Zhou for their assistance with the survey. We also thank R.D. Cohn, S. London, and J. Haseman for their helpful comments during the preparation of the manuscript.

This survey was funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Additional funding was provided by the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities.

Received 18 July 2001 ; accepted 4 December 2001.