Household cleaning sprays, air fresheners cause asthma

16 October, 2007

Cleaning sprays and air fresheners used in households has been held responsible for the high prevalence of asthma across Europe.

Regular use of sprays has increased the risk of developing asthma by between 30% and 50%, a study of 3,500 people in 10 European countries,
including the United Kingdom, a study has found.

The study was conducted over a period of 9 years.

Even occasional use of household cleaning sprays and air fresheners – as little as once a week – increased the risk of asthma. Air fresheners, furniture sprays, and glass cleaners were found to have the strongest effect.

However, liquid cleaners and polishes were found to have no adverse effect on health.

The findings, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, come from the European Community Respiratory Health Survey, one of the world’s largest studies of lung disease. Researches conducted earlier have shown that professional cleaners have increased rates of asthma, but it is the first time that domestic cleaning has also been shown to be risky.

Overall, 42% of those surveyed used the sprays on at least one day a week. One in seven cases of asthma could be accounted for by exposure to cleaning products, according to Jan Paul Zock, of the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology at Institute of Medical Research in Barcelona, Spain, and the study’s lead author.

Jan Paul Zock said frequent use of household cleaning sprays may be an important risk factor for adult asthma. The findings “indicate a relevant contribution of spray use to the burden of asthma in adults who do the cleaning in their homes.”

The relative risk rates of developing adult asthma in relation to exposure to cleaning products could account for as much as 15%, or 1 in 7 of adult asthma cases.

The 3,500 people were assessed for asthma, wheezing, and allergies twice over a period of 9 years, and were also asked to report the number of times per week they used cleaning sprays.

Incidence of asthma has tripled in the United Kingdom since the 1970s, and over 5 million adults are affected. Similar increases have been noticed in other European countries.

Interestingly, at the same time, the market for cleaning products has jumped by 60% since 1994.