Los Angeles Student Nurse Study

Abstract

Student nurses in Los Angeles completed daily symptom diaries throughout the period of their training. Average daily symptom rates were compared to daily pollutant data recorded at a nearby monitoring station. Eye discomfort, cough, and chest discomfort all increased with maximum hourly oxidant levels. Headache also increased when symptoms were adjusted for intercurrent morbidity. The relative increase of adjusted symptoms on highest oxidant days ( ≥ 0.40 ppm) ranged from 1.4 for headache to 6.1 for eye discomfort. Temperature, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen dioxide did not explain these associations. Nor were cigarette smoking, a history of allergies or bias in symptom reporting likely confounding factors. Headache and eye discomfort frequently interfere with work and personal habits. Excess cough and chest discomfort attributable to oxidant exposure may easily impose additional physiologic hardships upon high-risk population subgroups.