Housework ‘is as dangerous as cigarettes’
WOMEN who do regular housework or are employed as cleaners are causing long-term damage to their lungs, a study has warned.
The irritating chemicals in everyday cleaning sprays cause a decline in lung function similar to smoking nearly a pack of cigarettes a day.
Constant exposure to the chemicals, including ammonia, damages the lung membrane and speeds up the weakening of the lungs as we get older.
The lungs of men are not as damaged – but this could be because they are not so conscientious when it comes to housework and are less likely to work as cleaners.
Professor Cecile Svanes, of the University of Bergen in Norway, said: “While the short-term effects of cleaning chemicals on asthma are well documented, we lack knowledge of the long-term impact.
“We feared that such chemicals, by steadily causing a little damage to the airways day after day, year after year, might accelerate the rate of lung function decline that occurs with age.”
The study followed 6,235 men and women with an average age of 34 over the next two decades.
It measured the amount of air they could exhale in one second and the total amount in one breath.
This declined faster in women who cleaned at home and even faster in women who worked as cleaners, for whom it was akin to smoking.
Professor Svanes said: “Most cleaning agents have an irritative effect on the mucous membranes of the airways.
“One possible mechanism for the accelerated decline in cleaners is the repetitive exposure to low-grade irritative cleaning agents over time, thereby causing persistent changes in the airways.”
She said the level of lung impairment was surprising at first but added: “When you think of inhaling small particles from cleaning agents that are meant for cleaning the floor and not your lungs, maybe it is not so surprising after all.”
The study did not find that men who cleaned, either at home or at work, experienced greater decline in lung function than men who did not.
Professor Svanes concluded: “The take-home message of this study is that in the long run cleaning chemicals very likely cause rather substantial damage to your lungs.
“These chemicals are usually unnecessary. Microfibre cloths and water are more than enough for most purposes.”
The study was published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.