Exposure to cleaning products in first 3 months of life can increase risk of childhood asthma:
New research from the CHILD Cohort Study[*] shows that frequent exposure to common household cleaning products can increase a child's risk of developing asthma.
Asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease and is the primary reason why children miss school or end up in hospital.
The study was published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. It found that young infants (birth to three months) living in homes where household cleaning products were used frequently were more likely to develop childhood wheeze and asthma by three years of age.
"Most of the available evidence linking asthma to the use of cleaning products comes from research in adults," said the study's lead researcher, Dr. Tim Takaro, a professor and clinician- scientist in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University (SFU). "Our study looked at infants, who typically spend 80-90% of their time indoors and are especially vulnerable to chemical exposures through the lungs and skin due to their higher respiration rates and regular contact with household surfaces."
[...] "Interestingly, we did not find an association between the use of cleaning products and a risk of atopy alone," noted Dr. Takaro. "Therefore, a proposed mechanism underlying these findings is that chemicals in cleaning products damage the cells that line the respiratory tract through innate inflammatory pathways rather than acquired allergic pathways."
"We also found that at age three, the relationship between product exposure and respiratory problems was much stronger in girls than boys," he added. "This is an interesting finding that requires more research to better understand male versus female biological responses to inflammatory exposures in early life."
The study used data from 2,022 children participating in the CHILD Cohort Study and examined their daily, weekly and monthly exposure to 26 types of household cleaners, including dishwashing and laundry detergents, cleaners, disinfectants, polishes, and air fresheners.
"The risks of recurrent wheeze and asthma were notably higher in homes with frequent use of certain products, such as liquid or solid air fresheners, plug-in deodorizers, dusting sprays, antimicrobial hand sanitizers and oven cleaners," commented the paper's lead author, Jaclyn Parks, a graduate student in the Faculty of Health Sciences at SFU. "It may be important for people to consider removing scented spray cleaning products from their cleaning routine. We believe that the smell of a healthy home is no smell at all."
[*] CHILD Cohort Study web site.
Journal References:
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 20 2020, @09:21AM (3 children)
These things are rather complicated. Asthma itself is the result of inflammation and it's going to have multiple potential causes. There are also multiple kinds of asthma and what triggers one person may not trigger somebody else. I used to regularly go to the emergency room every fall when the furnace kicked on putting tons of cat dander into the air all at once, but was perfectly fine being around lots of particular matter from trucks with no wheezing at all. Whereas many other people would have serious problems with airflow if exposed to fumes and be fine with the cat dander.
(Score: 2) by Booga1 on Thursday February 20 2020, @09:34AM (2 children)
True, and there's no guarantee of anything being 100% effective. Even the Amish study says:
So what the heck is going on with the Hutterite's having double the "normal" U.S. kids asthma? Just bad luck with genes? Something else in the environment?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 20 2020, @11:12AM
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5682224/ [nih.gov]
Basically, the Hutterites don't leave as traditional farm style as the Amish and their homes are too clean.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by krishnoid on Thursday February 20 2020, @06:56PM
I wonder if it's continuous exposure to trace quantities of fertilizer/pesticides and other industrial farming chemicals, which you don't normally find in the more pollution-measured-and-controlled cities in some developed nations.