Exposure to indoor cleaning agents during pregnancy increases the risk of asthma in the child.
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| Photo: Indoor Cleaning Agent | InStyleHealth |
According to a recent study, exposure to indoor
cleaning agents during or during pregnancy appears to increase the incidence of
childhood asthma in the offspring.
The study included 3,318 children, 1,307 of whom had
moms who worked for six months at a job that required exposure to cleaning
agents indoors. The remaining 2,011 children's mothers worked in jobs that did
not need such exposure.
Maternal exposure occurred long before conception for
150 exposed offspring, with exposure ending on average 7.8 years before
pregnancy. Such exposure began before pregnancy and continued till conception
in 610 offspring (46.7%). Exposure began around the period of conception and pregnancy
in 77 offspring (5.9%).
Using mixed-effects logistic regression, researchers
discovered that prenatal exposure to indoor cleaning agents that lasted until
conception significantly increased the risk of offspring asthma before the age
of ten (odds ratio [OR], 1.72, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.09–2.69)
or without nasal allergies (OR, 1.50, 95 percent confidence interval [CI],
1.00–2.24).
Moreover, prenatal exposure that continued until
pregnancy increased the risk of wheeze and/or asthma in offspring before the
age of 10 years (OR, 1.64, 95 percent CI, 1.14–2.37). Exposure near the time of
conception had a similar effect (OR, 2.23, 95 percent confidence interval,
1.02–4.89).
Remarkably, maternal exposures that occurred several
years before conception or immediately after delivery had no effect on the
offspring's risk of asthma, wheezing, or nasal allergies.
Source: J Allerg Clin Immunol 2021;doi:10.1016/j.jaci.2021.08.025