Cleaning too often would be more harmful than tobacco

Cleaning would make us breathe less. And women would be much more exposed than men, according to the authors of a study published in an American journal.

The study published in the very serious American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine something to worry about. His findings are formal: "House cleaners or cleaners are seeing their lung function decline at an accelerated rate, suggesting that exposures from cleaning activities may be a risk to women. Long-term respiratory health ".

To reach this conclusion, researchers at the University of Bergen (Norway) badyzed data from the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS), a large study conducted over twenty years (1992-2012) with 6,235 participants

Asthma and respiratory symptoms

They highlighted that, compared to those who did not do housework, women responsible for home cleaning and maintenance professionals lost their ability to breathe out.

"Cleaning duties may involve exposure to chemical agents with potential adverse effects on the respiratory system, and an increased risk of asthma and respiratory symptoms in professional cleaners and home cleaners . The long-term effects of cleaning products on respiratory health are not well described.

By way of comparison, the authors suggest that regular use of sprays for maintenance is equivalent to smoking one pack of twenty cigarettes a day.

Men at Least Exposed

Other The teaching of the study is that cleansing is "not significantly badociated with the decline of lung function in men or the obstruction of their airways" .

Why would men be- they spared? The fact that they are less represented than women in the study cohort probably distorts the results. But Norwegian researchers do not exclude that women are more sensitive to harmful substances in household products.