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 Researchers found mouse allergen in nearly 100 percent of dust
samples from the schools studied, and exposure to it was linked to
increased symptoms and decreased lung function among children with
asthma.
“We always hypothesized that the school was important, but this
study comprehensively evaluated school and home environments,” said
senior author Dr. Wanda Phipatanakul of Boston’s Children’s Hospital
and Harvard Medical School.
Most research on this question has focused on homes, not schools,
she told Reuters Health by email.
The researchers evaluated 284 students with asthma aged 4 to 13
years who were enrolled in 37 inner city elementary schools between
2008 and 2013. The kids had clinical exams before the start of the
school year and were observed for the following year, including
keeping count of their days with asthma symptoms, asthma-associated
healthcare use and lung function.
Over the same year, classroom and home dust samples were collected
and analyzed for common allergens, like rat, mouse, cat and dog
allergens and dust mites.
Mouse allergen was present in 441 out of 443 school dust samples, or
99.5 percent, cat allergen in 420 samples, or about 95 percent, and
dog allergen in 366 samples, or about 83 percent.
Kids exposed to the highest mouse allergen levels, compared to those
exposed to the lowest, were 27 percent more likely to experience
asthma symptoms on any given day and scored about 4 points lower on
tests that measured how well their lungs worked when they exhaled.
“There is no known ‘danger’ level of allergens and allergens are
ubiquitous in our environment - homes, schools, and all public
places in a variety of environments,” Phipatanakul said.
“The study just provides evidence that schools are important and
resources and support to help the schools could be beneficial,” she
said.
The study took into account kids’ exposure to allergens at home, and
did not find any associations between school exposure to the other
indoor allergens tested and worsening asthma outcomes, according to
the report in JAMA Pediatrics.
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“In home environments many allergens have been found to be
important, but in many inner-city home studies, mouse allergen and
cockroach allergen were found to be important,” Phipatanakul said.
Air filtration and pest management may help reduce allergen levels,
she said.
“Schools are already doing the best they can with the resources they
have,” she added.
Allergens have been found, sometimes at high levels, in schools,
daycares and other public use buildings, said Dr. Elizabeth C.
Matsui of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore who
coauthored an accompanying editorial.
“In this particular study, it was puzzling that the association
between mouse allergen levels and asthma symptoms did not depend on
whether the child was allergic to mice,” Matsui told Reuters Health
by email. “This suggests that perhaps the mouse allergen is not
causing the asthma symptoms, but instead may be a marker of some
other exposure(s) that are triggering the asthma symptoms.”
Even so, Matsui and her coauthor write in the editorial, “One of the
study’s significant contributions is that it highlights the
importance of collaborating with schools to understand the effect of
the school environment on student health."
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2gcHHUW and http://bit.ly/2fOfSoY JAMA
Pediatrics, online November 21, 2016.
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