Disinfectant use during pregnancy linked to asthma, eczema in offspring
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
The use of disinfectants during pregnancy appeared associated with increased risks for asthma and eczema in offspring at age 3 years, according to an observational population study published in Occupational & Environmental Medicine.
“Due to the pandemic of coronavirus infections, the use of hand disinfectants has increased enormously, not only among health care professionals but also among the general public, including young women,” Reiji Kojima, MD, PhD, of the department of health sciences at the University of Yamanashi School of Medicine, told Healio.
“We started the study because we thought that by doing this research, we could provide useful evidence for this coronavirus infection pandemic,” Kojima said, adding that he and his colleagues are the first to examine occupational exposure to disinfectants alone.
The researchers examined data from 78,915 mother/child pairs from the Japan Environment and Children’s Study longitudinal prospective birth cohort, recruited between January 2011 and March 2014.
During their second or third trimesters, women completed questionnaires asking them how frequently they used or handled specific materials such as medical disinfectants during work, though particular disinfectants were not listed.
According to the questionnaires, 5.2% used occupational disinfectants one to three times a month, 5.2% used them one to six times a week and 1.7% used them every day, with more frequent use among health care professionals than among non-health care professionals.
The women later completed questionnaires asking them if their children had ever been diagnosed by a physician with asthma, eczema or food allergies in the previous 12 months or if they had ever been treated for such a disease.
At age 3 years, 7.7% of the children had asthma, 7.3% had atopic dermatitis and 6.3% had food allergies.
Women who used disinfectant one to six times a week had an adjusted OR for children with asthma of 1.18 (95% CI, 1.05-1.33), whereas those who used it every day had an aOR of 1.26 (95% CI, 1.05-1.52).
Similarly, women who used disinfectant one to six times a week had an aOR for children with eczema of 1.16 (95% CI, 1.02-1.31). Those who used it every day had an aOR of 1.29 (95% CI, 1.06-1.57).
These risks persisted whether or not the mother returned to work when the child was aged 1 year, the researchers wrote. However, the researchers noted that they did not find any associations between disinfectant use and food allergies.
“Occupational disinfectant use during pregnancy increases the risk [for] developing asthma and atopic dermatitis in children by 30%. Although it has been reported that disinfectant use causes occupational asthma and eczema, these results are a new finding,” Kojima said.
As an observational study, the researchers continued, it cannot establish a cause-and-effect relationship between disinfectant exposure and these allergy and eczema risks. But the researchers did offer several possible mechanisms.
The microbiome may be mediating these reactions as the frequent use of disinfectants alter the dermal flora, the researchers wrote. Prenatal exposure to some chemical compounds may impact the fetus’ immune response as well. Postnatal exposure or sensitization is another possibility. Or, they wrote, these findings may be the result of bias.
“This study alone does not tell us whether the use of common disinfectants increases allergies in children. Our study is just at the starting line and needs to be followed up in other populations, so the mechanisms are still to be elucidated,” Kojima said.
Despite these significant risks, Kojima continued, disinfectants still have an important role.
“There is a clear benefit of disinfectant use in the prevention of coronavirus infections,” he said. “Disinfectants should continue to be used.”
For more information:
Reiji Kojima, MD, PhD, can be reached at kojimar@yamanashi.ac.jp.