Housing characteristics, home environmental factors and respiratory health in 3945 pre-school children in China

Abstract

The objective of the study was to assess the effects of housing characteristics and home environmental factors on respiratory symptoms of Chinese children. A cross-sectional study of 3945 children aged 1-6-years-old was conducted at 24 randomly selected kindergartens in Liaoning province, northeast China during April 2007. Information on respiratory symptoms (persistent cough, persistent phlegm, doctor-diagnosed asthma, current asthma, current wheeze and allergic rhinitis) and exposures to home environmental factors was obtained by a standard questionnaire from the American Thoracic Society. We used Chi-square tests, multivariate logistic regression models and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for estimates of the risk of respiratory symptoms. Results suggested that the prevalence of asthma-related symptoms was higher for those who lived along the main stem of traffic, and houses near a pollution source. Lower prevalence rates of respiratory morbidity were associated with households with a larger area of residence and more rooms. Pet keeping was associated with doctor-diagnosed asthma (OR = 1.45; 95% CI, 1.03-2.06). Among boys, home decorations significantly increased the risk of doctor-diagnosed asthma (OR = 1.71; 95% CI, 1.21-2.41), current asthma (OR = 1.80; 95% CI, 1.10-2.94) and current wheeze (OR = 1.81; 95% CI, 1.31-2.50). Environmental tobacco smoke, pests and visible mold on walls were associated with the occurrence of asthma symptoms, especially in boys. Based upon the findings of this study, it is concluded that home environmental factors are particularly important for the development of respiratory morbidity among children. Boys may be more susceptible to home environmental factors than girls.

Housing characteristics and indoor environment in relation to children’s asthma, allergic diseases and pneumonia in Urumqi, China

“…This finding was consistent with the cross-sectional study of 14077 Swedish children aged 1-6 years, which reported four "dampness" indices including visible molds and windowpane condensation were associated with children's asthma, rhinitis and eczema symptoms [21]. In China, Dong et al [22][23][24] reported that signs in the home of water damage or visible mold on walls were positively associated with children's asthma symptoms in preschool children and elementary children in northeastern area of China. A recently published 10-year longitudinal study of adults in Uppsala, Sweden, found that signs of dampness in floor construction of any workplace building during follow up (cumulative exposure) were associated with incidence of mucosal symptoms (OR=2.43) including nasal catarrh, nasal obstruction, dryness in throat, sore throat or irritating cough [25].…”

Association between domestic mould and mould components, and asthma and allergy in children: a systematic review

“…Two Asian studies from Singapore also reported higher risks for rhinitis and rhinoconjunctivitis among 1-12-yr-old children [25,65]. The remaining six studies did not observe any statistically significant exposure-response relationships [17,22,26,44,47].…”

“…DIJKSTRA [29] DALES [16] DALES [32] PONSONBY [18] ZHENG [27] CHEN [25] FREEMAN [20] FREEMAN substudy [20] SPENGLER [19] PEKKANEN [33] DONG [17] DONG [22] ANTOVA [15] WARMAN [24] Summary (OR FAGBULE [34] VERHOEFF [31] LI [26] LI [35] MAIER [28] BRUNEKREEF [23] BRUNEKREEF [23] BRUNEKREEF [21] STRACHAN [37] STRACHAN [38] DIJKSTRA [29] DALES [16] SPENGLER [19] EMENIUS [36] ALPER [39] DONG [17] DONG [22] ANTOVA [15] ROSENBAUM [43] IOSSIFOVA [8] KARVONEN [42] Summary (OR LI [26] MAIER [28] BRUNEKREEF [23] BRUNEKREEF [23] CHEN [25] BIAGINI [45] IBARGOYEN-ROTETA [44] KOSKINEN substudy [47] KOSKINEN [47] LI [26] LI [35] BRUNEKREEF [21] DONG …”

Ten cities cross-sectional questionnaire survey of children asthma and other allergies in China

“…National surveys of asthma in Chinese children aged 0-14 years in 1990 and 2000 by the Childhood Asthma Collaborative Group of China [41] as well as a number of other studies indicate that asthma and allergies have increased in China [4,7,[42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51]. However, information about indoor exposure has been included to only a small extent and in only a few studies [52,53].…”