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Article Dans Une Revue American Journal of Industrial Medicine Année : 2020

Occupational exposure to disinfectants and asthma incidence in U.S. nurses: A prospective cohort study

Résumé

Background: Exposure to disinfectants among healthcare workers has been associated with respiratory health effects, in particular, asthma. However, most studies are cross-sectional and the role of disinfectant exposures in asthma development requires longitudinal studies. We investigated the association between occupational exposure to disinfectants and incident asthma in a large cohort of U.S. female nurses. Methods: The Nurses’ Health Study II is a prospective cohort of 116 429 female nurses enrolled in 1989. Analyses included 61 539 participants who were still in a nursing job and with no history of asthma in 2009 (baseline; mean age: 55 years). During 277 744 person-years of follow-up (2009-2015), 370 nurses reported incident physician-diagnosed asthma. Occupational exposure was evaluated by questionnaire and a Job-Task-Exposure Matrix (JTEM). We examined the association between disinfectant exposure and subsequent asthma development, adjusted for age, race, ethnicity, smoking status, and body mass index. Results: Weekly use of disinfectants to clean surfaces only (23% exposed) or to clean medical instruments (19% exposed) was not associated with incident asthma (adjusted hazard ratio [95% confidence interval] for surfaces, 1.12 [0.87-1.43]; for instruments, 1.13 [0.87-1.48]). No association was observed between high-level exposure to specific disinfectants/cleaning products evaluated by the JTEM (formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, bleach, hydrogen peroxide, alcohol quats, or enzymatic cleaners) and asthma incidence. Conclusions: In a population of late career nurses, we observed no significant association between exposure to disinfectants and asthma incidence. A potential role of disinfectant exposures in asthma development warrants further study among healthcare workers at earlier career stage to limit the healthy worker effect.
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Dates et versions

hal-03227912 , version 1 (19-12-2023)

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Orianne Dumas, Krislyn M. Boggs, Catherine Quinot, Raphäelle Varraso, J. P. Zock, et al.. Occupational exposure to disinfectants and asthma incidence in U.S. nurses: A prospective cohort study. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 2020, 63 (1), pp.44-50. ⟨10.1002/ajim.23067⟩. ⟨hal-03227912⟩
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