TY - JOUR T1 - Occupational use of high-level disinfectants and asthma incidence in early to mid-career nurses: a prospective cohort study JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J DO - 10.1183/13993003.congress-2019.OA3282 VL - 54 IS - suppl 63 SP - OA3282 AU - Orianne Dumas AU - Audrey J Gaskins AU - Krislyn M Boggs AU - Scott A Henn AU - Nicole Le Moual AU - Raphaëlle Varraso AU - Jorge E Chavarro AU - Carlos A Camargo Jr Y1 - 2019/09/28 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/54/suppl_63/OA3282.abstract N2 - Background: Occupational use of disinfectants among healthcare workers has been associated with asthma. However, most studies are cross-sectional and prospective evidence for an etiologic role is still needed. To limit the healthy worker effect, it is important to conduct studies among early to mid-career workers.Objectives: We investigated the prospective association between use of disinfectants and asthma incidence in a large cohort of early to mid-career female nurses.Methods: The Nurses’ Health Study 3 is an ongoing, prospective, internet-based cohort of female nurses in the United States and Canada. Analyses included 17,862 participants with no history of asthma in 2010 (baseline; mean age: 34 years, range 19-52) and who had completed ≥1 follow-up questionnaire (2011-2018). During 64,425 person-years of follow-up, 396 nurses reported incident physician-diagnosed asthma. At baseline, use of high-level disinfectants (HLD, eg glutaraldehyde, hydrogen peroxide) was evaluated by questionnaire. We examined the association between HLD use and subsequent asthma development, adjusted for age, race, ethnicity, smoking status, and body mass index.Results: Compared to nurses who reported ≤5 years of HLD use (90%), those with >5 years of HLD use (10%) had increased risk of incident asthma (adjusted hazard ratio [95% CI], 1.40 [1.04-1.87]. In nurses with >5 years of HLD use, the risk of incident asthma was further increased in those reporting current use of ≥2 products (1.98 [1.05-3.73], reference: ≤5 years of HLD use).Conclusions: Use of high-level disinfectants was prospectively associated with increased asthma incidence in early to mid-career nurses.FootnotesCite this article as: European Respiratory Journal 2019; 54: Suppl. 63, OA3282.This is an ERS International Congress abstract. No full-text version is available. Further material to accompany this abstract may be available at www.ers-education.org (ERS member access only). ER -