Cleaning the house ‘as bad for women’s lungs as 20 cigarettes a day’

But the good news: men aren’t affected one bit!

IF there was ever a reason to insist men do more of the cleaning, this is it.

A major study has found that men’s lungs are apparently resistant to the toxic chemicals in cleaning products such as bleach.

But cleaning the house as little as once a week meant women went on to suffer asthma and lung tissue scarring.

The damage was found to be comparable to the impact of smoking 20 cigarettes for between ten and 20 years.

However, using cleaning products appeared to have no effect on the health of men’s lungs, the research showed.

A variety of chemicals found in an array of domestic cleaning products such as bleach and ammonia were found to be potential irritants to the lungs.

The researchers suggested that prolonged exposure could be responsible for the damage to lungs. Dr Cecilie Svanes of the University of Bergen in Norway,

‘Inhaling small particles’

who carried out the study, said: ‘ While the short-term effects of cleaning chemicals on asthma are becoming increasingly 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 researchers, from 22 European countries including the UK, used data that monitored the lungs of 6,235 people over 20 years. Participants were asked whether they cleaned their house or worked as professional cleaners, and how often they used liquid cleaning products and sprays. There were 2,932 men and 3,298 women who cleaned at home, and 57 men and 293 women who were professional cleaners. The research found that the women who cleaned had an ‘accelerated’ decline in lung capacity – similar to that caused by longterm heavy smoking. They were also more likely to develop asthma. However, no effect was found on the lungs of men who did cleaning. The authors suggested that this may be because men’s lungs are less susceptible to the impact of cleaning chemicals – previous research has found that men’s lungs are more resistant to various irritants including tobacco smoke and wood dust. No significant difference was found between cleaning sprays and liquids – a surprise to the researchers, who expected sprays to be more harmful. The authors said: ‘Women cleaning at home or working as occupational cleaners had accelerated decline in lung function, suggesting that exposures related to cleaning activities may constitute a risk to long-term respiratory health.’

They added it is well documented that ammonia and bleach, both found in household products such as toilet cleaner, cause ‘fibrotic’ changes to lung tissue – scarring of the lungs.

The researchers suggest we use bleach less often and said water and a microfibre cloth are sufficient for most cleaning tasks.

Co-author Oistein Svanes said the impact from cleaning products was seen as 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 authors suggest that lung damage happens when cleaning chemicals irritate the mucous membranes lining the airways, which over time results in persistent changes in the lungs.

Dr Svanes added that governments should strictly regulate cleaning products and encourage producers to develop cleaning agents that cannot be inhaled. Dr Samantha Walker, of Asthma UK, said: ‘It is deeply concerning that this study shows cleaning products can cause long-term lung damage for people with asthma.’