ArticleOccupational and environmental medicine2021
Occupational use of high-level disinfectants and asthma incidence in early- to mid-career female nurses: a prospective cohort study.
Article in Occupational and environmental medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Occupational Health Effects of Chlorine Spraying in Healthcare Workers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Alternative Disinfectants and Application Methods.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Pooled it
- A systematic review of the relation between ten potential occupational sensitizing exposures and asthma.Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health · 2025Pooled it
- Are Healthcare Workers at an Increased Risk for Obstructive Respiratory Diseases Due to Cleaning and Disinfection Agents? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- The Influence of Achievement Motivation on Nurses' Health-Related Procrastination: The Mediating Role of Social Support.Journal of nursing management · 2026Article
- Occupational Exposure Patterns to Disinfectants and Cleaning Products and Its Association With Asthma Among French Healthcare Workers.American journal of industrial medicine · 2025Article
- Occupational Exposure to Disinfectants and Risk of Incident Cardiovascular Disease among US Nurses: The Nurses' Health Study II.Environmental health perspectives · 2025Article
- Exposure Profiles for the Long-Term Use of Disinfectants and Cleaning Products and Asthma.Allergy · 2025Article
- Respiratory Flora Intervention: A New Strategy for the Prevention and Treatment of Occupationally Related Respiratory Allergy in Healthcare Workers.Microorganisms · 2024Review
- Article
- Exposure frequency, intensity, and duration: What we know about work-related asthma risks for healthcare workers from cleaning and disinfection.Journal of occupational and environmental hygiene · 2023Review
- COVID-19 cleaning protocol changes, experiences, and respiratory symptom prevalence among cleaning services personnel.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- A Novel Application of Risk-Risk Tradeoffs in Occupational Health: Nurses' Occupational Asthma and Infection Risk Perceptions Related to Cleaning and Disinfection during COVID-19.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- The relationship between cleaning product exposure and respiratory and skin symptoms among healthcare workers in a hospital setting: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Health science reports · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesOccupational use of disinfectants among healthcare workers has been associated with asthma. However, most studies are cross-sectional, and longitudinal studies are not entirely consistent. To limit the healthy worker effect, it is important to conduct studies among early- to mid-career workers. We investigated the prospective association between use of disinfectants and asthma incidence in a large cohort of early- to mid-career female nurses.
methodsThe Nurses' Health Study 3 is an ongoing, prospective, internet-based cohort of female nurses in the USA and Canada (2010-present). Analyses included 17 280 participants without a history of asthma at study entry (mean age: 34 years) and who had completed ≥1 follow-up questionnaire (sent every 6 months). Occupational use of high-level disinfectants (HLDs) was evaluated by questionnaire. We examined the association between HLD use and asthma development, adjusted for age, race, ethnicity, smoking status and body mass index.
resultsDuring 67 392 person-years of follow-up, 391 nurses reported incident clinician-diagnosed asthma. Compared with nurses who reported ≤5 years of HLD use (89%), those with >5 years of HLD use (11%) had increased risk of incident asthma (adjusted HR (95% CI), 1.39 (1.04 to 1.86)). The risk of incident asthma was elevated but not statistically significant in those reporting >5 years of HLD use and current use of ≥2 products (1.72 (0.88 to 3.34)); asthma risk was significantly elevated in women with >5 years of HLD use but no current use (1.46 (1.00 to 2.12)).
conclusionsOccupational use of HLDs was prospectively associated with increased asthma incidence in early- to mid-career nurses.
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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.