Health Effects of Real-World Exposure to Diesel Exhaust in Persons with Asthma

Research Report 138, Health Effects of Real-World Exposure to Diesel Exhaust in Persons with Asthma, is one part of HEI's larger program on the role of particles in exacerbating asthma and other allergic diseases. This report describes a study to evaluate how inhaling air with a high concentration of diesel exhaust from vehicular traffic while walking on a busy street in Central London might affect people who had either mild or moderate asthma. Dr. Jim Zhang and colleagues evaluated pulmonary function parameters, bronchial reactivity, and markers of airway inflammation and oxidative stress in participants who walked for two hours along Oxford Street, where vehicles are predominantly diesel-powered, and in Hyde Park, where there is urban background air pollution and no traffic.