Household green cleaning products or wipes associated with uncontrolled asthma
Published: December 24, 2023
The use at home of irritants such as bleach or ammonia, or sprayed cleaning products is an established asthma risk factor. Therefore, consumers might choose potentially less harmful alternatives such as green products (instead of irritants) or those used in wipe form (instead of sprays). Few studies investigated the impact of cleaning products on uncontrolled asthma, but none of them evaluated the effect of using green products or wipes at home.
In an epidemiological study recently published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice, Pacheco Da Silva et al. evaluated the influence of the use of household cleaning products on asthma control based on 37,043 adults (mean age: 47 years, 75% women) from the French web-based NutriNet-Santé cohort (https://etude-nutrinet-sante.fr/). They used a standardized questionnaire to assess the frequency of household use of irritants, sprays, disinfecting wipes and green products (no weekly use of any of the four products studied - reference, 1-3 days/week, 4-7 days/week). Among participants with asthma, they also assessed asthma control by the Asthma Control Test (ACT; never asthma - reference, controlled: ACT≥20, uncontrolled: ACT<20).
Weekly use of each of the four categories of cleaning products, including green ones or those used in wipe form, was significantly associated with uncontrolled asthma. In particular, an almost daily use (4-7 days a week) of irritants (Odds ratio[confidence interval 95%]=2.81[1.97-4.00]), green products (2.40[1.70-3.39]), as well as sprays (2.69[1.97-3.68]) and disinfecting wipes (3.51[2.31-5.33]) was associated with uncontrolled asthma. When not co-used with irritants and sprays, associations with uncontrolled asthma remained statistically significant for green products (1.59[1.12-2.23]) and disinfecting wipes (1.99[1.24-3.22]). These findings confirm the deleterious effect on asthma control of using conventional products (irritants and sprays) at home and suggest that green products and wipes may not represent less dangerous alternatives for respiratory health. Further studies with more detailed assessment of ingredients contained in green products are needed to clarify their respiratory health effects. Nonetheless, Pacheco Da Silva et al. suggest that health practitioners should recommend to their patients to reduce the weekly use at home of all cleaning products to improve and maintain asthma control.
The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice is an official journal of the AAAAI, focusing on practical information for the practicing clinician.
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