Austin Air Clinical Trials

Six clinical trials, Six successful outcomes

Austin Air is the only clean air systems company to partner with research organizations and conduct clinical trials on our products. They've worked with Johns Hopkins University, the American Academy of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, the University of Washington, and Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering. Out of six published clinical trials, Austin Air yielded six successful outcomes.

American Academy of Pediatrics

Selected in 2001 by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the country’s number one children’s hospital, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, to take part in a clinical trial.

The aim of the study was to measure how an Austin Air Purifier could help to reduce children’s asthma symptoms and minimize visits to the ER. The air purifiers were run in the bedroom at night and in the main family room during the day. Over a twelve-month period, the children’s asthma improved and the number of visits to the emergency room was reduced dramatically.

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The Austin Air - Johns Hopkins Clinical Trials

The success of this trial paved the way for others. In 2009, Austin Air approached by the renowned Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore this time to measure how effectively our air purifiers could reduce levels of indoor Nitrogen Dioxide. Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) is a gas often present in homes with gas stoves. It is particularly dangerous for people with COPD, as it can cause coughing, wheezing, and chest tightness. Again, participants were given two Austin Air Purifiers to be used in the kitchen and in the bedroom. Again, results were impressive, NO2 levels dropped, and air quality improved significantly.

Shortly after, we teamed up with Johns Hopkins University Hospital for a second time. This study was designed to measure how using an Austin Air Purifier could improve indoor air quality for pregnant women or women with very young children, living with a smoker. Again, two Austin Air Purifiers were installed in each home. And once again it was clinically proven that our air purifiers are extremely effective at removing PM2.5 and what’s more, 98% of the women said they would recommend an Austin Air Purifier to friends and family looking to improve indoor air quality.

We went on to conduct several studies with Johns Hopkins and are still working with the university at the time of writing. 

More recently, another clinical trial with the hospital was published. The 2021 study shows how using an Austin Air Purifier can help people suffering from COPD. Previous trials with the university set out to measure how our units help to reduce pollution levels in the homes of people with COPD. But this was the first trial to use air purifiers to improve COPD symptoms.

After one week, indoor air quality was measured, pollution levels had dropped dramatically and continued to remain low for the duration of the study. At six months, use of COPD medication, COPD symptoms, and exacerbation risk (flareups) were assessed. It was clear that there were significant signs of improvement for the group using Austin Air Purifiers, particularly for those people who spent a lot of time indoors. According to the Johns Hopkins team,

‘This is the first environmental intervention study conducted among former smokers with COPD showing potential health benefits of portable HEPA air cleaners, particularly among those with greater adherence and spending a greater time indoors.’

Participants from this trial were also invited to take part in a second trial, the ‘Clean Air Heart Ancillary Study’. People suffering from COPD often experience poor heart health, in fact, cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death for patients with COPD.

Recent findings show that high levels of airborne ultrafine particles pose the greatest risk, so the aim of this study was to determine if using an Austin Air Purifier would help to improve heart health and lower the risk of cardiovascular disease.

As with previous studies, the results were outstanding. Using an Austin Air Purifier helped to improve heart health, and with regular use, findings suggest this could reduce the risk of cardiovascular-related deaths for people with COPD.

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 The University of Washington Trial

In 2015, we partnered with the University of Washington, to measure how using an Austin Air Purifier could help to improve air quality for children with asthma, living in the Yakima Valley, Washington State. The area is known for a range of intensive agricultural activities, that have a major impact on pollution levels. 

For the purposes of the study, an Austin Air Purifier was placed in both the living area and the child’s bedroom, pollution levels were then closely monitored. As with previous studies, the results were significant. Pollution levels in the living area were reduced by 48% and in the children’s bedrooms, they were reduced by an incredible 65%.

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Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Boston

In 2019 Austin Air joined forces with Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Boston, to improve air quality for residents living near to the airport in East Boston. This time the team investigated how using an Austin Air HealthMate could help to improve indoor air quality and subsequently lower a person’s blood pressure.

77 people, with no underlying health concerns, took part in the trial. The participants were split into 2 groups. Over a number of weeks, both groups were exposed to varying levels of pollution indoors. One group spent time in a room with an Austin Air HealthMate™ running, and one group spent time in a room with no air filtration.

The research team kept a close eye on air quality levels and the participants’ blood pressure, for the duration of the study. On both counts, they noticed a real difference when using our units. Blood pressure remained low and there was a 10-fold decrease in pollution levels in the rooms where an Austin was running.