Washington: A new study has indicated an important connection between exposure to indoor contaminants from both prenatal and early life. The research also shows the level of allergic reaction in two-year-olds.
The study, published in the scientific journal of the American College of Allergy and Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), shows that early exposure to candles, cats, and environmental tobacco smoke had the greatest impact on toddler allergies.
Mallory Gallant, who is a lead author of the study, said, “Because most children are exposed to more than one pollutant or allergen, we examined the relationship between multiple exposures and allergic sensitisations at two years of age.”
“We examined exposure to dogs, cats, air fresheners, candles, mould, environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and carpet, all of which have been associated with childhood allergies.”
“Of the exposures we measured, prenatal exposure to candles, 6-month exposure to cats and 2-year exposure to ETS significantly increased the chance of a positive skin prick test (SPT) at two years of age,” added Gallant.
There has been exposure in prenatal, six months, one year and two years to air freshers, moulds, cats, dogs, carpet and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS).
An SPT was performed on both the mother and the two-year-old child to measure allergic sensitivity. The rise in the overall average time meant that exposure to indoor air pollution poses an increased risk of adverse health outcomes.
The study found that children with a positive SPT at two years of age had significantly more exposures prenatally, at the one-year and two-year time points as compared to children with a negative SPT. As the number of indoor air polluting exposures increased, the percentage of children with a positive SPT also increased.
Results indicated that the impact of multiple exposures can contribute more than one exposure to the development of allergies among toddlers.
–ANI
