Awareness of and compliance with air pollution advisories: a comparison of parents of asthmatics with other parents.
OBJECTIVE
To determine parents' awareness of and compliance with air pollution advisories, and to compare the awareness and compliance of parents' of asthmatics to that of other parents.


METHODS
Responses of 240 parents surveyed at pediatric clinic visits were compared.


RESULTS
A total of 88% of parents were aware of air pollution advisories; 71% reduced pollution and 55% restricted children's play "sometimes" because of advisories. However, only 7% complied with more than one third of the advisories issued. More parents of asthmatics reported awareness of alerts (p = 0.002), reducing pollution (p = 0.005), or restricting play "sometimes" in response to advisories (p = 0.007).


CONCLUSIONS
Most parents report awareness of and some compliance with air pollution advisories. Parents of asthmatics are more aware and somewhat more compliant than other parents.
McDermott
Marc
M
Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City, USA. marc.mcdermott@umassmed.edu
Srivastava
Rajendu
R
Croskell
Sarah
S
D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001249:Asthma / Q000209:etiology*; D001364:Awareness; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States; D014484:United States Environmental Protection Agency
D000393:Air Pollutants