Have you found your asthma is triggered more since lockdown? If so, you are not alone. From cleaning sprays to air fresheners, many cleaning products use chemicals that can trigger asthma. Spending more time indoors during lockdown more means higher exposure to these irritants.
And now, a new study has linked reduced asthma control to an increase in the use of household disinfectant products because of COVID-19. This raises concerns that asthma sufferers are at increased risk of uncontrolled and severe asthma. Let’s investigate more in our latest news post…
The Study
The study set out to see if cleaning product use during COVID-19 really does affect asthma more. It was prompted by the increased use of disinfectants known to be respiratory irritants for asthma sufferers. The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago, led by Kamal Eldeirawi.
Is your choice of cleaning products worsening your asthma?
“We became concerned with increased cleaning and disinfecting related to the COVID-19 pandemic combined with people spending more time indoors, [which] may expose people with asthma to more environmental triggers for asthma symptoms,” Kamal Eldeirawi said on the study. “This prompted our interest in studying the impact of disinfectants and asthma control among those living with asthma.”
What Was Asked?
The study was a controlled survey of 795 adults conducted between May and September 2020. Respondents answered questions about handwashing and hand sanitiser use, household disinfectant use and frequency.
To tie this data to COVID-19 and asthma, respondents were asked five questions about asthma symptoms, use of rescue medications, effect of asthma on daily functioning, and personal control over the past four weeks.
What Did the Study Find?
The study found that increased cleaning product use is affecting asthma sufferers more during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, they found significant associations of frequent disinfectant use with uncontrolled asthma.
Figures from the study show that of the 795 respondents, the percentage who reported household disinfectant use five or more times a week since the pandemic began:
– increased 138% for disinfectant wipes.
– increased 121% for disinfectant sprays.
– increased 155% for bleach and water solution.
– increased 89% for other cleaning liquids.
So What Next?
This study directly links an increase in the use of disinfectants to a decrease in asthma control. This raises questions about whether using chemical cleaners as a means of disinfection is healthy and safe for asthma sufferers.
If you suffer from asthma and allergies, an easy solution is to consider switching to hypoallergenic cleaning products. Our probiotic cleaning products are hypoallergenic, effective against COVID and safe for asthma sufferers and the environment.
For your hands, use our Probiotic Hand Soap.
For air odours and dust mite allergies, use our Probiotic Air Optimiser Spray.
For hard surfaces around your home, use our Probiotic Interior Cleaning Spray.
Another extra benefit to using probiotic cleaning products over chemical cleaning products is that they help to protect the effectiveness of our antibiotics. This is because they work in a different way that does not cause antimicrobial resistance.
COVID-19 is making us disinfect our homes, door handles, hands and skin more often, and a lot of the time you may turn to chemicals to do so. It makes sense to swap out chemicals for less irritable products if you have asthma. If you have any questions just contact us – we are here to help.
Give it a go and see if it makes a difference. Good luck!
