Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30922522›Full record

ArticleEnvironment international2019

Intervention to reduce gymnast exposure to flame retardants from pit foam: A case study.

Nicholas A Dembsey, Frederick M Brokaw, Heather M Stapleton, Robin E Dodson, Joy Onasch, Elisa Jazan, Courtney C Carignan

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Environment international, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
0.3field-weighted citation impact, top 40% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.

Nicholas A DembseyDepartment of Fire Protection Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, USA. Electronic address: ndembsey@wpi.edu.
Frederick M BrokawDepartment of Fire Protection Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, USA. Electronic address: fmbrokaw@wpi.edu.
Heather M StapletonNicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA. Electronic address: heather.stapleton@duke.edu.
Robin E DodsonSilent Spring Institute, Newton, MA, USA. Electronic address: dodson@silentspring.org.
Joy OnaschToxics Use Reduction Institute, University of Massachusetts at Lowell, Lowell, MA, USA. Electronic address: joy_onasch@uml.edu.
Elisa JazanDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA. Electronic address: elisa.jazan@tufts.edu.
Courtney C CarignanDepartment Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA; Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA. Electronic address: carignan@anr.msu.edu.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute · USDuke University · USHarvard University · USSilent Spring Institute · USTufts University · USUniversity of Massachusetts Lowell · US

Funding

Training Program in Environmental EpidemiologyT32ES007069 · NIEHS · HARVARD UNIVERSITY (SCH OF PUBLIC HLTH) · PI LADEN, FRANCINE · 1985 to 2024
$13.9M
NIEHS NIH HHS T32 ES007069NIOSH CDC HHS T42 OH008455NIOSH CDC HHS U60 OH009762
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Gymnasts can have high exposures to flame retardants (FRs), which are used in gymnastics safety equipment such as the loose foam pit. Therefore, we aimed to reduce gymnast exposure to FRs by replacing the foam in the pit using foam free of additive FR and measuring personal exposure during practice using hand-wipes. To assure maintenance of fire safety we first conducted a flammability study and facilitated a fire inspection for our partner gym. The FR-treated cubes had similar heat release rates to the non-FR treated cubes, required a 11 cm larger flame size applied for 6 s longer to ignite, and took 4 min longer to reach peak flame height. Based on these findings and the presence of other fire safety measures including smoke detectors and a sprinkler system, the local fire and building departments approved replacement of the foam pit with FR-free foam. We then replaced foam in the gym's pit, verified it was free of any additive FRs, and quantified common halogenated and organophosphate FRs on hand-wipes collected from ten collegiate gymnasts before and after practice, pre- and post-intervention. We observed a 5-fold decline in the median mass of FRs found in pit foam that accumulated on hand-wipes during practice among gymnasts who used the foam pit (p = 0.02), indicating that replacing the foam in a pit using materials free of FRs can reduce gymnast exposure to these chemicals during practice.

Indexed as

Environmental ExposureEnvironmental MonitoringGymnasticsFlame RetardantsHalogenated Diphenyl EthersHumansFlame RetardantsHalogenated Diphenyl EthersBrominated and organophosphate flame retardantsEnvironmental exposureFire safetyFoam pitGymnastGymnastics

Identifiers

PMID30922522
PMCPMC13387137
OpenAlexW2924216194

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.