Household Cleaners and Asthma - Important link (June 2024)

Take Home

 Health practitioners should consider the frequency of household disinfectants and cleaning products (HDCP) use in patients' households when managing asthma.  We should advise patients to limit the use of household cleaning products including “GreenProducts” as much as possible as this could help them improve and maintain asthma control. 

Background:

The use of HDCPs has been linked to negative impacts onasthma control, but there is limited research on this association, particularlyregarding green products and disinfecting wipes, which are becomingincreasingly popular.

Objective:

The study aimed to assess the relationship between the useof HDCPs, including green products and disinfecting wipes, and asthma controlamong adults.

Study Design:

This study involved 37,043 adults from the French Web-basedNutriNet-Santé cohort. Participants completed standardized questionnaires from 2018to evaluate asthma control (using the Asthma Control Test) and the use of HDCPs(categorized into irritants and green products, and application modes: spraysand disinfecting wipes). Analysis was completed using cross-sectionalassociations between the frequency of HDCP use and asthma control were examinedusing multinomial logistic regressions, adjusting for factors like sex, age,smoking status, body mass index, and educational level. 

Key Findings:

Frequent use (4-7 days per week) of HDCPs, including bothirritants and green products, as well as sprays and disinfecting wipes, wassignificantly associated with uncontrolled asthma.  Magnitude of effects were as follows:

Irritants: Odds ratio (OR) 2.81; 95% confidence interval(CI) 1.97-4.00.

Green Products: OR 2.40; 95% CI 1.70-3.39.

Sprays: OR 2.69; 95% CI 1.97-3.68.

Disinfecting Wipes: OR 3.51; 95% CI 2.31-5.33.

 The associations remained significant for disinfecting wipesand green products even when not used with irritants and sprays.