ReviewClinical and experimental allergy : journal of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology2006
Too clean, or not too clean: the hygiene hypothesis and home hygiene.
Review in Clinical and experimental allergy : journal of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 88 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
88 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Is sibship composition a risk factor for childhood asthma? Systematic review and meta-analysis.World journal of pediatrics : WJP · 2023Pooled it
- Allergies and Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: A Case-Control Study and Meta-analysis.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2018Pooled it
- Helicobacter pylori infection and atopic diseases: is there a relationship? A systematic review and meta-analysis.World journal of gastroenterology · 2014Pooled it
- Association between Helicobacter pylori infection and inflammatory bowel disease: a meta-analysis and systematic review of the literature.Inflammatory bowel diseases · 2010Pooled it
- Effect of prenatal indoor pet exposure on the trajectory of total IgE levels in early childhood.The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology · 2011Trial
- Preimmunization of SPF Mice With Capsid Virus-like Particle Has no Effect on CD8Clinical and translational science · 2026Article
- Pathophysiological Mechanisms and Nonpharmacological Interventions in Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Current Insights and Future Directions.Journal of nutrition and metabolism · 2026Review
- Atopic Dermatitis in Urban Indonesian Children: A Case-Control Study of the Prevalence of Filaggrin Loss-of-Function Variants and Sociodemographic Factors at a Tertiary Referral Hospital.Dermatology (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Changes in Childhood Atopic Dermatitis Incidence and Risk Factors Over Time: Results From Two German Birth Cohorts.Clinical and experimental allergy : journal of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology · 2025Article
- Regulatory T-Cells During Pregnancy Relate to Women's Own Childhood History of Microbial Exposure.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2025Article
- Article
- Clarifying the Hazy Concepts of Food Allergies and Sensitivities.Gastroenterology & hepatology · 2024Article
- Contacts with environmental biodiversity affect human health: links revealed during the initial waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Developing home cleaning intervention through community engagement to reduce infections and antimicrobial resistance in Ghanaian homes.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Explanatory integration and integrated explanations in Darwinian medicine and evolutionary medicine.Theoretical medicine and bioethics · 2023Article
- Stunting among children aged 24-59 months and associations with sanitation, enteric infections, and environmental enteric dysfunction in rural northwest Ethiopia.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Biomass Smoke Exposure and Atopy among Young Children in the Western Highlands of Guatemala: A Prospective Cohort Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- An Overview of the Latest Metabolomics Studies on Atopic Eczema with New Directions for Study.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Prevalence and Molecular Characterization of Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamases and AmpC β-lactamase-ProducingPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Article
28 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The 'hygiene hypothesis' as originally formulated by Strachan, proposes that a cause of the recent rapid rise in atopic disorders could be a lower incidence of infection in early childhood, transmitted by unhygienic contact with older siblings. Use of the term 'hygiene hypothesis' has led to several interpretations, some of which are not supported by a broader survey of the evidence. The increase in allergic disorders does not correlate with the decrease in infection with pathogenic organisms, nor can it be explained by changes in domestic hygiene. A consensus is beginning to develop round the view that more fundamental changes in lifestyle have led to decreased exposure to certain microbial or other species, such as helminths, that are important for the development of immunoregulatory mechanisms. Although this review concludes that the relationship of the hypothesis to hygiene practice is not proven, it lends strong support to initiatives seeking to improve hygiene practice. It would however be helpful if the hypothesis were renamed, e.g. as the 'microbial exposure' hypothesis, or 'microbial deprivation' hypothesis, as proposed for instance by Bjorksten. Avoiding the term 'hygiene' would help focus attention on determining the true impact of microbes on atopic diseases, while minimizing risks of discouraging good hygiene practice.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.