| All | Spray use | p-value | |||
| <1 day per week | ≥1 day per week | ||||
| 1 spray | ≥2 types of sprays | ||||
| Subjects n | 683 | 346 | 184 | 145 | |
| Age yrs | 43.8±15.5 | 43.6±15.3 | 44.1±16.2 | 43.0±15.2 | >0.10 |
| BMI | |||||
| <25 kg·m−2 | 450 (69.4) | 239 (72.9) | 120 (68.6) | 88 (64.2) | |
| ≥25 kg·m−2 | 198 (30.6) | 89 (27.1) | 55 (31.4) | 49 (35.8) | >0.10 |
| Smoking habits | |||||
| Non-smokers | 376 (55.1) | 191 (55.4) | 112 (60.9) | 68 (46.9) | |
| Ex-smokers | 168 (24.6) | 91 (26.4) | 35 (19.0) | 40 (27.6) | |
| Smokers | 138 (20.2) | 63 (18.3) | 37 (20.1) | 37 (25.5) | 0.07 |
| Diploma level | |||||
| Primary | 154 (22.6) | 74 (21.5) | 36 (19.6) | 41 (28.3) | |
| Secondary | 177 (26.0) | 87 (25.3) | 47 (25.5) | 40 (27.6) | |
| University | 350 (51.4) | 183 (53.2) | 101 (54.9) | 64 (44.1) | >0.10 |
| Status at the first survey | |||||
| Cases | 109 (16.0) | 50 (14.5) | 20 (10.9) | 36 (24.8) | |
| Relatives | 388 (56.8) | 209 (60.4) | 105 (57.1) | 72 (49.7) | |
| Spouses | 49 (7.2) | 20 (5.8) | 17 (9.2) | 10 (6.9) | |
| Controls | 137 (20.1) | 67 (19.3) | 42 (22.8) | 27 (18.6) | 0.01 |
| Asthma symptom score# | |||||
| 0 | 284 (41.6) | 155 (44.8) | 82 (44.6) | 42 (29.0) | |
| 1 | 171 (25.0) | 92 (26.6) | 48 (26.1) | 31 (21.4) | |
| ≥2 | 228 (33.3) | 99 (28.6) | 54 (29.3) | 72 (49.6) | 0.0001 |
| Asthma | |||||
| Never | 439 (64.3) | 227 (65.6) | 130 (70.7) | 77 (53.1) | |
| Current | 244 (35.7) | 119 (34.4) | 54 (29.3) | 68 (46.9) | 0.003 |
| Asthma control | |||||
| Subjects n | 227 | 113 | 47 | 65 | |
| Controlled | 99 (43.6) | 53 (46.9) | 22 (46.8) | 24 (36.9) | |
| Poorly controlled | 128 (56.4) | 60 (53.1) | 25 (53.2) | 41 (63.1) | 0.003 |
| Avoidance of a polluted place¶ | |||||
| Subjects n | 236 | 115 | 55 | 63 | |
| No | 153 (64.8) | 64 (55.6) | 41 (74.6) | 45 (71.4) | |
| Yes | 83 (35.2) | 51 (44.4) | 14 (25.4) | 18 (28.6) | 0.02 |
| Occupational exposure, last job | |||||
| Asthma JEM | |||||
| Asthmogens (high probability) | 94 (14.2) | 47 (14.2) | 31 (17.2) | 16 (11.3) | >0.10 |
| Cleaning agents | 23 (3.5) | 10 (3.0) | 7 (3.9) | 6 (4.2) | >0.10 |
| Employed in a cleaning job | 20 (2.9) | 6 (1.7) | 6 (3.3) | 8 (5.5) | 0.08 |
| Cleaning products (JEM or job) | 40 (5.9) | 14 (4.1) | 12 (6.5) | 14 (9.7) | 0.05 |
Data are presented as mean±sd or n (%), unless otherwise stated. BMI: body mass index; JEM: job exposure matrix. #: females with current asthma (n=244) had a higher symptom score than those without (n=439) and percentages of females with 0, 1 or ≥2 symptoms were 7.8, 20.9 and 71.3% versus 60.4, 27.3 and 12.3%, respectively (p<0.001); ¶: avoidance of an exposed situation or place, available only in participants with asthma, was evaluated by a positive response to at least one of the four questions on avoidance (passive smoking, dust, pollution, perfume or odour) from the Asthma Quality-of-Life Questionnaire [19]. There were eight missing values for the number of sprays used per week, 35 for BMI, one for smoking habits and three for diploma level. In females with current asthma, there were 17 missing values for asthma control and eight for avoidance of polluted places. p-value is indicated if p≤0.10; p>0.10 is indicated for other non-significant associations.