Impact of home humidifier on children’seczema

In view of their increasing popularity, humidifiers have become a public concern due to their effects on human health. It has been proved that cleaning humidifiers infrequently is associated with humidifier lung and humidifier fever and the use of home humidifier detergent, which is used to prevent the microbes of humidifiers, could lead to a further lung injury. As susceptible populations, children are highly sensitive to changes in the environment. The aim of this article, which is a part of an epidemiological multiple-centre study of asthma and allergies among children (China, Children, Homes, Health, CCHH), is to investigate the association of home humidifier and pre-school children’s eczema in Baotou, China. A cross-sectional study of 5076 children aged 3–7 (79.3% response rate) selected randomly from 37 kindergartens in Baotou was implemented in March to July 2014. A Chi-square test was used in the univariate analysis of the related risk factors of home humidifier use. The associations between children’s eczema and home humidifier use and dampness signs were performed by multiple logistic regressions after adjusting gender, age, family allergic history, currently smoking and house site. Our survey indicated that 52.8% of the parents reported using humidifiers in their houses. Humidifiers were more frequently used in the families with allergic history, higher family income, higher the degree of the mother, larger house area and younger house age. Children receiving antibiotic treatment utilized humidifiers more often than those never receiving antibiotic treatment. Moreover, cleaning frequency, sensation of dry air, indoor comfort in winter and air cleaner use were related to the use of humidifiers. We found that the prevalence of children’s doctor-diagnose eczema in Baotou was 33.7%. Eczema symptoms first appearing during the first year of life occurred in 68.9% of children with eczema. Boys had more eczema than girls and low age children had more eczema than high age children ( P <0.05). Family allergic history was a strong risk factor of children’s eczema ( P <0.001). Home humidifier use increased 1.3 times risks of children having eczema in the multiple logistic regressions model with the confounders adjusted. Meanwhile, use of a humidifier significantly increased the association between the moisture and children’s eczema (aOR, 95%CI: 2.37,1.39–4.04). For the families using humidifiers, the more moisture, the higher risk of their children having eczema. In conclusion, it is a risk for children’s eczema to use a humidifier at home. This study suggests that it is important for preventing children’s eczema to reduce damp signs and use humidifiers reasonably in homes. Further follow-up studies of the home humidifier use could verify and reveal more about the influence of humidifier use and environmental exposure on the children’s health.