# Motivational interviewing and air cleaners for smokers with COPD (MOVE COPD)

> **NIH NIH R01** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $642,562

## Abstract

COPD is characterized by lung injury and inflammation caused by noxious particles and gases, including those
emanating from cigarette smoke and air pollution. Unfortunately, current active smokers represent the largest
subset of COPD in the US and most individuals with COPD are not successful at quitting even though smoking
cessation is the best option. A potential harm reduction strategy for those who will not or have not yet
successfully quit, that has not been tested and has no health risk, is improvement of air quality. The indoor
environment is of particular concern as patients with moderate to severe COPD spend the majority of their time
in their homes. People with COPD who have higher exposure to indoor pollutants, including particulate matter
(PM), second hand smoke (SHS), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) have worse respiratory morbidity including a
higher risk of exacerbations. These effects are not obscured by their smoking habit. Unfortunately, despite the
clear detrimental impact of poor air quality on respiratory outcomes, regardless of smoking status, to our
knowledge, there are no studied environmental interventions targeting indoor air quality to improve respiratory
health of smokers, thus ignoring a potential target for harm reduction. Our group has substantial expertise in
conducting trials successful at reducing harmful indoor exposures including 1) home interventions utilizing
portable air cleaners with high efficiency particular air and carbon filters that significantly reduce indoor PM and
NO2 concentrations, and 2) behavioral interventions including Motivational Interviewing (MI) to promote health
behavior change and reduce home air nicotine levels and indoor SHS. We propose a randomized controlled
intervention trial to test whether targeted reductions of multiple indoor pollutants (PM, SHS and NO2) in homes
of smokers with COPD will improve respiratory outcomes. We have chosen a potent, multimodal intervention in
order to maximize the opportunity to prove that there is a health benefit to active smokers with COPD from
indoor air pollution reduction. After a one-month run in period in which all participants will receive smoking
cessation strategies including MI and nicotine replacement therapy, participants unable to quit smoking
(n=120) will have 1:1 randomization to receive either 1) multi-component environmental intervention (active air
cleaners + MI intervention for SHS reduction) or 2) sham air cleaners. All participants will continue to receive
smoking cessation counseling throughout the study period, including those that quit smoking during the run in
period. We aim to determine whether a multi-component environmental intervention (targeting PM, SHS and
NO2 reduction) will improve respiratory morbidity (i.e., symptoms, quality of life, lung function and exacerbation
risk) (Specific Aim #1) and intermediate outcome measures (i.e., markers of airway and systemic inflammation
and oxidative stress) (Specific Aim #2) in smokers...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10200042
- **Project number:** 5R01ES029512-04
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Nadia N Hansel
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $642,562
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-15 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10200042

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10200042, Motivational interviewing and air cleaners for smokers with COPD (MOVE COPD) (5R01ES029512-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10200042. Licensed CC0.

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