PMID: 9551510Apr 29, 1998Paper

Asthma and household chemical pollutants (with the exception of tobacco)

Revue des maladies respiratoires
P KriegerM C Kopferschmitt

Abstract

The relationship between allergens in a domestic environment and asthma has been extensively studied and it is only recently that studies have suggested the possibility of the role of chemical pollutants in the internal environment in the genesis of asthma. The pollutants studied are oxides of nitrogen (nitrogen dioxide NO2), volatile organic components (COV), formaldehyde, ozone (O3) and sulphur dioxide (SO2). The level of nitrogen dioxide in the interior of houses may be greater than those met outside. Normal values are 400 mcg per metre3 per hour and 150 mcg per metre3 in twenty four hours. In asthmatics challenge test to nitrogen dioxide and epidemiological studies suggest that internal nitrogen dioxide is capable of provoking asthmatic crises either by a direct pollutant effect or by potentialising the allergenic crises either by a direct pollutant effect or by potentialising the allergenic response of the bronchi. COV and formaldehyde are liberated by urea formaldehyde foams and by chipboard furniture. The levels of COV and formaldehyde inside a house may be up to 10 times higher than those outside. COV and formaldehyde perhaps would have an effect on the bronchi in asthmatics at significant levels which are rarely found ...Continue Reading

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