Feather bedding and house dust mite sensitization and airway disease in childhood

Ponsonby, Anne-Louise; Kemp, Andrew; Dwyer, Terence; Carmichael, Allan; Couper, David; Cochrane, Jennifer

« Previous Next »Journal of Clinical Epidemiology
Volume 55, Issue 6 , Pages 556-562, June 2002

Feather bedding and house dust mite sensitization and airway disease in childhood

Anne-Louise Ponsonby
- National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
- Menzies Centre for Population Health Research, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
- Corresponding author. National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra 0200. Fax: +61-2-6125-0740.(A.-L. Ponsonby)
Andrew Kemp
- Department of Immunology, Royal Children's Hospital, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia
Terence Dwyer
- Menzies Centre for Population Health Research, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
Allan Carmichael
- Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
David Couper
- Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Jennifer Cochrane
- Menzies Centre for Population Health Research, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia

Received 18 April 2001; received in revised form 26 November 2001; accepted 29 November 2001.

Abstract

Feather bedding has been inversely associated with child wheeze and also with house dust mite (HDM) allergen levels. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of the childhood component of a birth cohort study. Our aim was to examine the relation between feather bedding and HDM sensitization and airway disease. A total of 498 children (84% of eligible) residing in Northern Tasmania in 1997 who were eligible for the Tasmanian Infant Health Survey at birth in 1988 or 1989 participated. Outcome measures included atopic sensitization to Dermatophagoides farinae or Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus allergens, spirometric lung function, and child respiratory symptoms using questions from the ISAAC study. HDM sensitization was strongly associated with frequent wheeze (more than 12 episodes of wheeze compared with no wheeze in the past year) (rate ratio [RR], 19.61; confidence interval [CI], 6.94–55.56) but only weakly associated with asthma ever (RR, 1.65; CI, 1.30–2.09). Feather quilt use was associated with reduced HDM sensitization (adjusted RR [ARR], 0.60; CI, 0.45–0.80) and also reduced frequent wheeze episodes over the past year (ARR, 0.24; CI, 0.07–0.86). The reduction in wheeze was more evident among HDM-sensitized children. These findings are consistent with the possible mechanisms for feather bedding of a reduction in initial HDM sensitization and an improvement in respiratory symptoms among HDM-sensitized children. However, prospective studies are required to fully exclude selection bias.

Keywords: Feathers, Bedding, House dust mite sensitization, Asthma, Disease misclassification