SynthesisInternational journal of environmental research and public health2021
Are Healthcare Workers at an Increased Risk for Obstructive Respiratory Diseases Due to Cleaning and Disinfection Agents? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
23 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 43 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
- How long do bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses retain their replication capacity on inanimate surfaces? A systematic review examining environmental resilience versus healthcare-associated infection risk by "fomite-borne risk assessment".Clinical microbiology reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Identifying risk factors for COPD and adult-onset asthma: an umbrella review.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2023Pooled it
- Environmental exposures at home and in the workplace in relation to inhaled corticosteroid medication - the population-based REGAL study.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2026Article
- When behavior outweighs infrastructure: disinfectant and latex exposure and preventive practice among operating room nurses in China.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- The Association of Current Asthma With and Without Exacerbation With Products Used and Tasks Performed by Healthcare Workers.American journal of industrial medicine · 2026Article
- Applying a Risk-Risk Tradeoff Economics Approach to the Occupational Health of Nurses: Economic and Microbial Risk Analysis.Risk analysis : an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis · 2025Article
- Hygiene Practices Against Dermatophytic Fungi: A Review of Strategies to Combat Antifungal Resistance.Biology · 2025Review
- Chlorine gas and ultrafine particle emissions from bleach disinfection: exposure risk characterization.Journal of occupational medicine and toxicology (London, England) · 2025Article
- Impact of occupational exposures in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: current understanding and knowledge gaps.Current opinion in pulmonary medicine · 2025Review
- A risk-risk tradeoff approach for incorporating the public's risk perceptions into quantitative microbial risk assessment.Journal of occupational and environmental hygiene · 2025Article
- Optimizing Ultrasound Probe Disinfection for Healthcare-Associated Infection Control: A Comparative Analysis of Disinfectant Efficacy.Microorganisms · 2024Review
- Virucidal Coatings Active Against SARS-CoV-2.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Microbiological evaluation of ultraviolet C light-emitting diodes for disinfection of medical instruments.Heliyon · 2024Article
- Article
- Recruitment strategies in marginalized industries for occupational health research: an example in a pilot study of cleaning staff during COVID-19.Annals of work exposures and health · 2024Article
- Hygiene requirements for cleaning and disinfection of surfaces: recommendation of the Commission for Hospital Hygiene and Infection Prevention (KRINKO) at the Robert Koch Institute.GMS hygiene and infection control · 2024Article
- Maintaining a healthy cleaning workforce in healthcare settings.Journal of infection prevention · 2023Article
- COVID-19 cleaning protocol changes, experiences, and respiratory symptom prevalence among cleaning services personnel.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Subacute Pulmonary Toxicity of Glutaraldehyde Aerosols in a Human In Vitro Airway Tissue Model.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Several reviews have reported an increased risk of obstructive respiratory diseases in workers exposed to cleaning or disinfection agents, but they have focused mainly on professional cleaners. Cleaning and disinfecting are frequently performed activities by healthcare workers. We conducted a systematic review with meta-analysis to quantify the risk of obstructive respiratory diseases in healthcare workers exposed to cleaning and disinfection agents. We searched the Medline and Embase databases until 4 February 2021 to find adequate primary studies. Two independent reviewers screened the titles/abstracts and the full texts of the studies, as well as performing data extraction and quality assessment. The literature search yielded 9432 records, and 8 studies were found through a hand search. After screening, 14 studies were included in the review. All had a high risk of bias, and most studies dealt with nurses, asthma, and hyperresponsiveness (BHR)-related symptoms. Only one study investigated COPD. The meta-analysis estimated an increased risk of new-onset asthma for nurses (Effect size (ES) = 1.67; 95% CI 1.11-2.50) compared with other occupations and found an increase in the risk of new-onset asthma for nurses exposed to cleaning and disinfecting surfaces (ES = 1.43; 95% CI 1.09-1.89) and instruments (ES = 1.34; 95% CI 1.09-1.65). Exposure to specific chemicals such as bleach and glutaraldehyde (GA) increased the risk of asthma in nurses (bleach ES = 2.44; 95% CI 1.56-3.82; GA ES = 1.91, 95% CI 1.35-2.70). A higher risk for BHR-related symptoms was observed for nurses exposed to cleaning surfaces (ES = 1.44; 95% CI 1.18-1.78). Although the overall evidence was rated as low, the limitations found in this review hint at a potential underestimation of the real risk. These findings highlight the need for reinforced prevention practices with regard to healthcare workers. Similar research investigating these associations among other healthcare workers such as rescue service and nursing home personnel is needed.
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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.