Cleaning products link to wheezing
07 January 2005

Prenatal exposure to household cleaning products such as disinfectant, bleach and air fresheners could be linked to wheezing in young children, suggests a report published this month.

Researchers found that in a group of 7,000 children aged three and a half, those who had been exposed to high levels of domestic chemical-based products while in the womb were more than twice as likely to have wheezed throughout their life than those with low levels of exposure to similar chemicals.

Scientists at the University of Bristol followed the group of children from birth in order to examine health patterns. For this study they asked the pregnant mothers how many times they used various household cleaning products in the home.

They calculated a score – the 'total chemical burden' – for each family, depending on how frequently products were used.

After the children were born the researchers recorded how often they wheezed and compared this to their exposure to chemical products while in the womb. They found that the higher the levels of exposure, the more likely children were to wheeze, even after taking into account other factors such as parental smoking, contact with pets and damp housing.

Those in the top 10% of exposure were more than twice as likely to wheeze as those in the bottom 10%.

'There is gathering evidence that environmental exposures early in life, including in the womb, may influence the development of asthma,' said Dr Matt Hallsworth, Asthma UK's Research Manager.

'There has been much debate about whether outdoor air pollution increases the risk of developing asthma,' he added. 'This study reminds us that we should also consider the quality of the indoor air we breathe and how it may affect the health of our children's lungs.'

Previous research has shown a link between children's asthma and levels of chemicals in their homes, including an Australian study published last year. Another study showed that people working as cleaners are more likely to develop asthma.

This research was published in Thorax.