Occupational use of high-level disinfectants and asthma incidence in early to mid-career female nurses: a prospective cohort study

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Occup Environ Med
• Personal Author:
  Dumas, Orianne ; Gaskins, Audrey J ; Boggs, Krislyn M. ; Henn, Scott A ; Le Moual, Nicole ; Varraso, Raphaëlle ; Chavarro, Jorge E ; Camargo, Carlos A
• Description:
  Objectives:
  
  Occupational use of disinfectants among healthcare workers has been associated with asthma. However, most studies are cross-sectional and longitudinal studies are not entirely consistent. To limit the healthy worker effect, it is important to conduct studies among early to mid-career workers. We investigated the prospective association between use of disinfectants and asthma incidence in a large cohort of early to mid-career female nurses.
  
  Methods:
  
  The Nurses’ Health Study 3 is an ongoing, prospective, internet-based cohort of female nurses in the United States and Canada (2010-present). Analyses included 17,280 participants without history of asthma at study entry (mean age: 34 years) and who had completed ≥1 follow-up questionnaire (sent every 6 months). Occupational use of high-level disinfectants (HLDs) was evaluated by questionnaire. We examined the association between HLD use and asthma development, adjusted for age, race, ethnicity, smoking status, and body mass index.
  
  Results:
  
  During 67,392 person-years of follow-up, 391 nurses reported incident clinician-diagnosed asthma. Compared to nurses who reported ≤5 years of HLD use (89%), those with >5 years of HLD use (11%) had increased risk of incident asthma (adjusted hazard ratio [95%CI], 1.38 [1.03-1.85]). The risk of incident asthma was elevated but not statistically significant in those reporting >5 years of HLD use and current use of ≥2 products (1.72 [0.88-3.34]); asthma risk was significantly elevated in women with >5 years of HLD use but no current use (1.46 [1.00-2.12]).
  
  Conclusions:
  
  Occupational use of high-level disinfectants was prospectively associated with increased asthma incidence in early to mid-career nurses.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adult Article Asthma Canada Disinfectants Female Humans Incidence Nurses Occupational Exposure Prospective Studies Risk Factors United States

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• Source:
  Occup Environ Med. 78(4):244-247
• Pubmed ID:
  33452037
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC7985390
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  R01 OH010359/OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/ ; R24 ES028521/ES/NIEHS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; U01 HL145386/HL/NHLBI NIH HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  78
• Issue:
  4
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:5e542c9a876d542b9a97226b0caa9d5fa46f79f20e1c56ebad0da5267fdb9b45
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/104386/cdc_104386_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 59.46 KB ]