Study on the main asthma allergens: what to think about them and how to protect yourself from them?

in collaboration with

Pr Alain Didier (pulmonologist-allergist)

In France nearly 4 million people are affected by asthma, according to the Health Insurance. Dust mites, pollen, dust… If we have known for a long time that many factors favor crises and episodes of breathing difficulties, Australian researchers wanted to know the main culprits in the environment of patients. Results, according to them, the 3 allergens most responsible for asthma attacks would be:

• passive smoking
• gas heating
• synthetic bedding

To reach this conclusion, the researchers analyzed 46 scientific articles published on the subject, providing them with medical data from 137,840 people in Australia. “Knowing this type of factor could help to better adapt prevention campaigns”explain the researchers in The Conversation.

However, this kind of conclusion should be taken with a grain of salt. When we questioned Pr Alain Didier, pulmonologist at the Larrey CHU hospital in Toulouse and member of our expert committee on this ranking, which was widely reported in the media, he insisted on pointing out that a lot of epidemiological studies like the one these lack clarity because they integrate a lot of different factors.

A classification to be taken with tweezers

“In addition, this is not a study but a meta-analysis of several studies, the size of each of which should be looked at and the factors analyzed in each, because this can generate many biases. For example if one study includes thousands of cases and the other only a few hundred will completely unbalance the analysis.”

If the classification is not proven in terms of the importance of their incidence, these 3 allergens are indeed recognized risk factors against which you must know how to protect yourself when you have asthma.

Passive smoking: children mainly victims

“Being around smokers at home and at work is one of the most frequently reported trigger allergen exposures”, report the researchers, adding that the main cause of exposure to passive smoking comes mainly from a smoker in the home, of which children are the first victims. Exposure to tobacco greatly promotes and exacerbates respiratory disorders. To escape it, there are not many solutions, according to our expert Professor Alain Didier: “we require smokers to do it outside.”

Bedding: ventilation and dust mite cover

With regard to bedding, the scientists suggest in the meta-analysis report that pillow or mattress materials with unnatural fibers such as microfiber, nylon or even acrylic would tend, according to them, to store and contain more allergenic material than feathers for example. A hypothesis in the face of which our pulmonologist expert wishes to remain cautious once again. “Maybe also that a synthetic bedding is less renewed than another? Anyway, the best way to prevent dust mites from proliferating in the mattress is to cover it with an anti-mite cover and especially to vacuum the mattress regularly and air the bedding every day to reduce the humidity which, in conjunction with the heat, promotes the proliferation of dust mites.

Heating: remember to ventilate well every day

As for gas heating in homes, it is the emission of nitrogen dioxide, for which it is responsible, which causes an exaggeration of the irritation of the fragile and inflammable respiratory tracts of asthmatics, “but above all because it induces a dryness of the air. The home must therefore be ventilated regularly”, completes Pr Alain Didier. It is best to limit the heating sources in a home as much as possible when someone has breathing problems.

If the dangers of passive smoking or not, are already well known to the general public and widely denounced in the media, the interest of this study is based on the identification of other sources of aggravation of asthma attacks in order to change and promote prevention messages to limit the risks as much as possible.