MESA AirT h e M U LT I - e T h N I C S T U D Y

O F AT h e R O S C L e R O S I S A N D

L O N G - T e R M e X P O S U R e TO

A I R P O L L U T I O N

CHSC

C62

00 N

E 74

th S

t.Bl

dg. 2

9, S

uite

210

Seat

tle, W

A 9

8115

Contact your MESA Field Center if you have questions or if you are ready to participate:

Wake Forest University:

Cathy Nunn

(336) 716-6650

UCLA:

Anthony Sosa or Sameh Tadros

(626) 979-4920

W H O I S E L I G I B L E ?

As a MESA Air participant, you may be eligible for home monitoring if you:• Own and drive your own car or truck as your

primary mode of transportation• Travel in your vehicle at least an average of

30 minutes a day• Are a non-smoker and do not live with a

smoker

MeSA Air

The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and

Air Pollution (MESA Air) looks at the relation-

ship between air pollution and the progres-

sion of cardiovascular disease over time. The

United States Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA) funds the ten-year study, which involves

thousands of participants, representing diverse

areas of the United States.

An important part of MESA Air is collecting air

samples to learn about the quality of the air

people breathe. As a MESA Air participant, you

may have participated in our home monitoring in

the past. MESA Air is now starting a new round

of air pollution monitoring that you may be eligi-

ble for, funded by the Environmental Protection

Agency Center for Clean Air Research (CCAR).

The purpose of this new monitoring is to look at

how time spent in your car effects your expo-

sure to air pollution.

W H AT D O E S T H E S T U D Y I N V O LV E ?T h e s t u d y i n v o l v e s f o u r t y p e s o f a i r m o n i t o r i n g , a s w e l l a s l o c a t i o n t r a c k i n g . A l l s a m p l i n g w i l l o c c u r f o r t w o 2 - w e e k p e r i o d s , a p p r o x i m a t e l y 6 m o n t h s a p a r t .

Air Monitoring:

All air monitoring will measure specific gases that

can be found in the air we breathe.

1. Outdoor Home Air Monitoring:

We will place a small metal stand with sampling

equipment outside your home. You will not need to

do anything with the equipment.

2. Indoor Home Air Monitoring:

We will also place air sampling equipment inside

your home. You will not need to do anything with

this equipment.

3. Personal Air Monitoring:

There is a clip-on badge to attach to your shirt or

jacket near your shoulder.

4. In-vehicle Air Monitoring:

We will place a small box of air sampling equip-

ment in your vehicle. You will be asked to remove

the lid from this sampling unit when you get in the

vehicle and replace it before you leave the vehicle.

Location Tracking:

GPS: The location tracking component

involves wearing a small camera-sized pack on

your hip that contains a GPS tracking device.

The pack weighs about one pound and will

track your travel routes during the sampling

period.

Proximity monitors: You will be asked to

briefly hold the GPS pack up to a proxim-

ity sensor on the sample base set-up in your

home each time you enter or exit your home or

vehicle.

Time-location diary: You will be asked to

fill out a time-location diary, which involves

recording the time you spent in different loca-

tions during the day, as well as some additional

details about traffic conditions when you are

traveling.

What will the sampling equipment look like?

The indoor monitor is about 1 ft by 1 ft.

Outdoor Home Air Monitoring

Indoor Home Air Monitoring

The outdoor monitor will be on a small metal stand outside of your house. You will not need to do anything with this equipment.

Personal Air Monitoring

The monitor you wear will have three badges. You will wear this every day for the 2-week monitoring period.

In-vehicle Air Monitoring

The monitor in your car is about 1 ft by 1 ft and can lay flat on your seat or attach to the front or back of your car seat. We will ask you to put this monitor in the open position when you are driving.

(open position)

(closed position)