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Update on Cleaning Agents and Asthma



Details

  • Corporate Authors:
    Michigan State University. College of Human Medicine
  • Description:
    In 2003, Michigan published a report that 12% of the patients with work-related asthma in four states, California, Massachusetts, Michigan and New Jersey were associated with exposure to cleaning products. Affected patients used the cleaning products as part of their job (i.e. housekeepers and janitors) or were bystanders who worked in the areas (i.e. health care workers, teachers or office workers). Before this publication, there had been case reports of work-related asthma from the ingredients of specific cleaning agents but very limited data on the overall prevalence of asthma from exposure to cleaning agents. In the last 10 years, there has been a marked increase in studies showing both an association of new-onset asthma and aggravation of pre-existing asthma in individuals exposed to cleaning agents both at home and work. These studies have consistently shown that exposure to ammonia, bleach, disinfectants, mixing cleaning products, and using spray cleaning products have been associated with an increased risk of developing asthma. The 2003 publication reported 236 patients with confirmed work-related asthma associated with cleaning agents in the four states from 1993 to 1997, approximately 47 per year. From 1998 - 2012, those same four states have confirmed work-related asthma cases associated with cleaning agents in 1,122 patients, approximately 75 per year. In Michigan, for the years 2008 - 2015, a cleaning agent is the presumed cause for 21.6% of the confirmed work-related asthma cases, up from 4.6% from 1988 - 1997, a 370% increase. This increase in asthma cases associated with cleaning agents in Michigan is inversely related to the number of cases associated with isocyanates and metal working fluids, which have shown a downward trend. There has been, however, a downward trend in cases associated with cleaning agents since the mid 2000's (Figure 1). [Description provided by NIOSH]
  • Subjects:
  • Keywords:
  • Publisher:
    Michigan State University-College of Human Medicine
  • Document Type:
    Text
  • Funding:
    Cooperative Agreement
  • Genre:
    Newsletter
  • Place as Subject:
  • CIO:
    National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
  • Topic:
    Workplace Safety & Health
  • Location:
    North America
  • Pages in Document:
    1-4
  • Volume:
    28
  • Issue:
    4
  • NIOSHTIC Number:
    nn:20054763
  • Citation:
    Project S.E.N.S.O.R. News 2017 Sep; 28(4):1-4
  • Contact Point Address:
    MSU-CHM, West Fee Hall, 909 Fee Road, Room 117, East Lansing, MI 48824-1316
  • Federal Fiscal Year:
    2017
  • Performing Organization:
    Michigan State University
  • Peer Reviewed:
    False
  • Start Date:
    20050701
  • Source Full Name:
    Project S.E.N.S.O.R. News
  • End Date:
    20260630
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha-512:0e9f265f1edb2dbdfb0f43b433160f7c34d29caae7f0567df5035272aa212797be65cf664fc0ac996f1bde6f2aeeb594fdfc275f322c655ba295fbc7209afd68
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 469.85 KB ]
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