Mold exposure can be a trigger for respiratory ailments, including sinusitis and asthma. A recent study conducted in New York City's public housing found that fixing mold problems in apartments led to a big decrease in emergency visits for severe asthma attacks. Duh!...of course...
They found an average of nine fewer asthma-related emergency department visits per 1000 residents per year, or nearly 2800 fewer emergency department visits per year overall. Residents in nearby housing (apartments) not part of NY City's Housing Authority was the comparison group.
It makes sense that when the trigger for an asthma attack is removed, that there are fewer asthma attacks resulting in emergency room visits. But at least now the results have been quantified in a study. (NOTE: the study did not look at incidence of sinusitis, but one would expect the same type of results - if prolonged mold exposure triggers sinusitis, then cleaning it up prevents sinusitis).
From Medscape: Fix Mold, Reduce Asthma ED Visits?
An effort to remediate mold in public housing in New York City (NYC) was associated with thousands fewer emergency department visits for asthma per year, according to research presented at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI)2026 Annual Meeting.
Prior studies had shown repairing damp, moldy buildings may reduce respiratory symptoms such as wheezing.
The new study shows this phenomenon on a city-wide scale.
“Our study demonstrates that the system-wide mold intervention, Mold Busters, is making a difference for NYC public housing residents by successfully intervening on mold that triggers severe asthma attacks necessitating a visit to the emergency department,” said lead author Nina Flores, PhD, in a news release.
In 2019, the New York City Housing Authority initiated the Mold Busters program, which bolstered tools and training for remediating mold in public housing and streamlined the housing authority’s response to reports of mold. After an initial service request and inspection, staff aim to complete repairs in 1 or 2 weeks, depending on the complexity of the job.
To assess the program’s effect on asthma, Flores and colleagues analyzed data from 2016 to 2023 on visits to the emergency department for asthma among residents in public housing. They compared these residents with those in nearby housing not run by the housing authority and used doubly robust differences-in-differences analyses to examine the effect of Mold Busters.
The researchers found Mold Busters was associated with an average of nine fewer asthma-related emergency department visits per 1000 residents per year, or nearly 2800 fewer emergency department visits per year overall.
The effect was stronger for adults and for residents whose buildings saw a steeper drop in mold reports.
Although mold work orders generally decreased after the launch of Mold Busters, they increased after extreme precipitation events, the researchers noted.
Beyond the emergency department, Mold Busters might provide additional asthma-related health benefits, Flores suggested in the news release. These include “the prevention of new asthma cases, as well as the prevention of less severe asthma symptoms and other allergic reactions that may necessitate school and work absences and unscheduled medical appointments,” she said.
The Institute of Medicine Committee on Damp Indoor Spaces and Health raised this issue in 2004 with a report highlighting associations between damp indoor environments and respiratory health outcomes in sensitized people with asthma, Barnes noted.
At the time, few controlled studies had assessed the effectiveness of remediation, however.