INDOOR EXPOSURES AND RISK OF ASTHMA AND ALLERGY: A SYSTEMATIC AND CRITICAL REVIEW. PRELIMINARY REPORT

摘要

Systematic and critical review of published reports is needed to assess the level of evidence for causal relationships between indoor exposures and asthma and allergy, including the effects from interventions. We performed a systematic critical review of papers describing both relevant indoor exposures and relevant health outcomes. Searches in Medline and Embase from 1966-2003 yielded close to 12000 publications. 2175 potentially relevant abstracts were reviewed, 1080 publications were subjected to full text assessment, and after selection by study design and other quality criteria 362 publications were included in a final assessment. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were performed within the areas of allergen, environmental tobacco smoke, dampness, and other exposures. The findings so far indicate health effects from dampness and environmental tobacco smoke. Measures to reduce mite allergen exposure of new-born high risk children did not appear to reduce sensitization, whereas some effect was found for asthma.