Swimming pool link overplayed
19 July 2006

The reported link between the rise in childhood asthma and the number of indoor swimming pools needs much more research says Asthma UK.

A Belgian study suggests that the prevalence of childhood asthma and wheeze rises around 2-3% for every indoor swimming pool per 100,000 of the population across Europe.

The rates of wheezing, asthma, hay fever, allergic rhinitis, and atopic eczema, reported by 190,000 13 and 14 year olds from 21 countries, were analysed by the researchers. These figures were compared with the number of indoor chlorinated swimming pools per 100,000 of the population in each of the countries.

After taking account of factors such as a country’s standard of living, climate and altitude, the researchers found that the prevalence of wheeze and asthma was strongly associated with the number of indoor pools. They suggested that the rise in asthma may partly be attributed to the increasing exposure of children to by-products of chlorine in the air and water of these pools.

However, Jenny Versnel, Asthma UK’s Assistant Director of Research, said that there could be many other possible reasons for this association, and parents should not be deterred from taking their child swimming, unless the child’s asthma symptoms obviously worsened in the pool environment.

'Swimming is an excellent form of exercise for children with asthma as the warm humid air in the swimming pool is less likely to trigger asthma symptoms,’ she said. ‘We do recognise however that the chemicals present in heavily chlorinated pools may be important in making the airways more irritable and further research is needed to understand this association.'

The research was published in the journal ‘Occupational & Environmental Medicine’.