Environmental influence on the measurement of exhaled nitric oxide concentration in school children: special reference to methodology.

Abstract

Measuring exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) is a noninvasive and useful method for evaluating the correlation between airway inflammation and air pollution. The method is being used in studies; however, the effects of polluted air on eNO values are poorly understood. If polluted air significantly affects eNO concentrations, then it would be hard to evaluate the concentration of eNO, particularly in epidemiological measurements to detect the effects of airway inflammation, such as that in bronchial asthma. Thus, we hypothesized that short-term exposure to air pollution affects eNO values.