Longitudinal associations of household use of cleaning agents and asthma symptoms

Abstract

Few epidemiological studies examined longitudinal associations of household use of cleaning products and asthma.

The aim was to assess the associations of the evolution of household use of cleaning products with the asthma symptom score and its evolution over 8 years.

Our study is based on 509 women (mean age: 51 years) participating in the last two surveys of the Epidemiological study on the Genetics and Environment of Asthma (EGEA2: 2003-2007 and EGEA3: 2011-2013). We determined the asthma symptom score (range 0-5) and the use of household cleaning products using standardised questionnaire data. The evolution of weekly use of irritant or spayed cleaning products (no weekly use at EGEA2-EGEA3 (ref); decreased; persistent; increased) was studied in association with the asthma symptom score at EGEA3 by negative binomial models and with the evolution in asthma symptoms between EGEA2-EGEA3 (asymptomatic stable (ref); symptomatic stable; improvement; incidence) by polytomous logistic regressions. Models were adjusted for age, smoking status, and body mass index, and accounted for familial dependence.

Persistent and increased (40% and 16%, respectively) weekly use of irritants or sprays were associated with a higher risk of asthma symptoms at EGEA3 (MSR=1.41 [1.06-1.88] and 1.27[0.87-1.86], respectively) and with an increased risk of persistent asthma symptoms (symptomatic stable) over time (OR=2.80 [1.32-5.97] and 2.76 [1.05-7.24], respectively). No significant associations were observed with incidence nor between a decreased use of products and the improvement of symptoms.

Persistent or increased weekly use of cleaning products over time may have an adverse effect on the evolution of respiratory health.