EPIDEMIOLOGIC STUDY OF PULMONARY EFFECTS OF FORMALDEHYDE

拟议的研究将调查短期呼吸影响 甲醛暴露的实验结果 设计将利用 定期控制甲醛暴露， 尸体解剖和观察的临床解剖学经验。 这项研究的设计解决了许多流行病学研究的局限性。 呼吸道刺激物的研究，通过：提供个体定量 研究没有甲醛的受试者，估计甲醛肺部剂量 重要的既往暴露史，收集大量 症状强度和肺功能的措施，对同一组的 受试者反复暴露于甲醛，并收集数据， 乙酰甲胆碱激发和皮肤点刺试验测定个体敏感性 过敏症 一项在哥伦比亚大学临床解剖实验室进行的初步研究， 1990年秋天，马萨诸塞州在洛厄尔发现了大量的 三小时内呼气峰流量（PEFR）的减少 在24名学生的实验室期间监测。 学生们还展示了 基线PEFR较基线PEFR有小幅但具有统计学显著性的下降， 在为期十周的观察期内， 每周一次三小时的实验课 这项为期两年的调查将在相同的环境中进行， 试点，但有一个更详细的研究设计，允许定量 肺剂量估计和更精确的肺功能评估。 大约60名受试者将在14周内接受随访， 每周暴露三小时。 将进行完整的肺量测定 在这一时期的开始和结束，高峰流量测量将 在整个过程中执行。 个人甲醛暴露估计 所有的曝光时间都将被确定。 甲醛肺模型的建立 美国环保署使用的剂量测定法将被调整，以提供 用于定量剂量反应研究的个体肺剂量。

The proposed research will investigate the short term respiratory effects of formaldehyde exposure in naive subjects. The design will utilize the periodic controlled formaldehyde exposures which graduate students in clinical anatomy experience during cadaver dissection and observation. The study design addresses several limitations of many epidemiologic studies of respiratory irritants, by: providing individual quantitative estimates of formaldehyde lung dose, studying subjects with no significant prior history of exposure, collecting large numbers of measures of symptom intensity and pulmonary function on the same group of subjects exposed repeatedly to formaldehyde, and gathering data on individual sensitivity by methacholine challenge and skin prick testing for atopy. A pilot study in the clinical anatomy laboratory at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell in the fall of 1990 detected significant decrements in peak expiratory flow (PEFR) across the three hour laboratory periods in the 24 students monitored. Students also exhibited a small but statistically significant decline in baseline PEFR over the course of a ten week observation period in which they were exposed for one three-hour lab session each week. This two year investigation would be conducted in the same environment as the pilot, but with a more elaborated study design allowing quantitative lung dose estimation and more precise lung function assessment. Approximately 60 subjects would be followed during fourteen weeks of exposure for three hours each week. Full spirometry would be performed at the beginning and end of this period, and peak flow measurements would be performed throughout. Individual formaldehyde exposure estimates for all exposure periods would be made. A model of formaldehyde lung dosimetry used by the U.S. EPA would be adapted to provide estimates of individual lung dose for quantitative dose response studies.