Local News in Brief : Breath Mobile to Offer Free Smokers’ Tests
A red-and-white, 18-wheel trailer rolled into the northwest parking lot of the Northridge Fashion Center Thursday where it will remain for the next two months, offering smokers--ages 35 to 59--free lung-capacity tests and screening for lung disease.
With the screening at the Breath Mobile, UCLA medical officials hope to find 600 suitable volunteers to participate in a $30-million study conducted by the National Institutes of Health.
The NIH plans to study whether intensive behavior modification, combined with administration of the drug Atrovent, can arrest habitual smoking and reverse the effects of an ailment the NIH calls chronic obstructive lung disease.
The ailment is a degenerative condition characterized by reduced lung capacity and symptoms associated with bronchitis and emphysema, said Dr. Donald Tashkin, a UCLA professor of medicine.
Those screened who show signs of the disease will be invited to take part in the program. Most participants will go through 12 weeks of behavior modification and be treated with Atrovent, Tashkin said. Afterward, their lungs will be tested every four months for five years.
The Breath Mobile is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m Thursday through Saturday.
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