Dataset Information

Humidifier Disinfectants Are a Cause of Lung Injury among Adults in South Korea: A Community-Based Case-Control Study.

ABSTRACT:

Backgrounds

An outbreak of lung injury among South Korean adults was examined in a hospital-based case-control study, and the suspected cause was exposure to humidifier disinfectant (HD). However, a case-control study with community-dwelling controls was needed to validate the previous study's findings, and to confirm the exposure-response relationship between HD and lung injury.

Methods

Each case of lung injury was matched with four community-dwelling controls, according to age (±3 years), sex, residence, and history of childbirth since 2006 (for women). Environmental risk factors, which included type and use of humidifier and HD, were investigated using a structured questionnaire during August 2011. The exposure to HD was calculated for both cases and controls, and the corresponding risks of lung injury were compared.

Results

Among 28 eligible cases, 16 patients agreed to participate, and 60 matched controls were considered eligible for this study. The cases were more likely to have been exposed to HD (odds ratio: 116.1, 95% confidence interval: 6.5-2,063.7). All cases were exposed to HDs containing polyhexamethyleneguanidine phosphate, and the risk of lung injury increased with the cumulative exposure, duration of exposure, and exposure per day.

Conclusions

This study revealed a statistically significant exposure-response relationship between HD and lung injury. Therefore, continuous monitoring and stricter evaluation of environmental chemicals' safety should be conducted.

SUBMITTER: Park JH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4798643 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Humidifier Disinfectants Are a Cause of Lung Injury among Adults in South Korea: A Community-Based Case-Control Study.

Park Ji-Hyuk JH Kim Hwa Jung HJ Kwon Geun-Yong GY Gwack Jin J Park Young-Joon YJ Youn Seung-Ki SK Kwon Jun-Wook JW Yang Byung-Guk BG Lee Moo-Song MS Jung Miran M Lee Hanyi H Jun Byung-Yool BY Lim Hyun-Sul HS

PloS one 20160318 3

<h4>Backgrounds</h4>An outbreak of lung injury among South Korean adults was examined in a hospital-based case-control study, and the suspected cause was exposure to humidifier disinfectant (HD). However, a case-control study with community-dwelling controls was needed to validate the previous study's findings, and to confirm the exposure-response relationship between HD and lung injury.<h4>Methods</h4>Each case of lung injury was matched with four community-dwelling controls, according to age ( ...[more]

PMID: 26990641

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Project description:BackgroundLung disease caused by exposure to chemical substances such as polyhexamethylene guanidine (PHMG) used in humidifier disinfectants (HDs) has been identified in Korea. Several researchers reported that exposure classification using a questionnaire might not correlate with the clinical severity classes determined through clinical diagnosis. It was asserted that the lack of correlation was due to misclassification in the exposure assessment due to recall bias. We identified the cause of uncertainty to recognize the limitations of differences between exposure assessment and clinical outcomes assumed to be true value. Therefore, it was intended to check the availability of survey using questionnaires and required to reduce misclassification error/bias in exposure assessment.MethodsHDs exposure assessment was conducted as a face-to-face interview, using a questionnaire. A total of 5245 applicants participated in the exposure assessment survey. The questionnaire included information on sociodemographic and exposure characteristics such as the period, frequency, and daily usage amount of HDs. Based on clinical diagnosis, a 4 × 4 cross-tabulation of exposure and clinical classification was constructed. When the values of the exposure rating minus the clinical class were ≥ 2 and ≤ - 2, we assigned the cases to the overestimation and underestimation groups, respectively.ResultsThe sex ratio was similar in the overestimation and underestimation groups. In terms of age, in the overestimation group, 90 subjects (24.7%) were under the age of 10, followed by 52 subjects (14.2%) in their 50s. In the underestimation group, 195 subjects (56.7%) were under the age of 10, followed by 80 subjects (23.3%) in their 30s. The overestimation group may have already recovered and responded excessively due to psychological anxiety or to receive compensation. However, relatively high mortality rates and surrogate responses observed among those under 10 years of age may have resulted in inaccurate exposure in the underestimation group.ConclusionsHDs exposure assessment using a questionnaire might not correlate with adverse health effects due to recall bias and various other causes such as recovery of injury and psychological anxiety. This study revealed exposure misclassification and characteristics affected by HDs and proposed a questionnaire-based exposure assessment methodology to overcome the limitations of past exposure assessment.

Project description:IntroductionTo better understand the conditions associated with pertussis diagnosis among older adults in South Korea, a matched case-control study was conducted of individuals ≥ 50 years diagnosed with pertussis between 2009 and 2018.MethodsPertussis cases were identified using the nationwide Health Insurance Review and Assessment service (HIRA) database. Each case was then matched to up to 10 controls identified using the National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort (NHIS-NSC) by age, sex, and geographic region at index date. In the 12 months and 30 days prior to index date, the presence of clinical characteristics previously reported to be related to pertussis and pertussis-like conditions were assessed, respectively. A conditional multivariate logistic regression model was then used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) of pertussis diagnosis, adjusted for each of the characteristics.ResultsPertussis cases (n = 1004) generally demonstrated a higher prevalence of comorbidities compared to controls (n = 9710). Pre-existing asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) within 12 months of index date were associated with a two-fold increased risk of pertussis with adjusted ORs (95% confidence interval) of 2.08 (1.68-2.58) and 2.32 (1.59-3.39), respectively. Gastroesophageal reflux disease [GERD; 2.67 (2.23-3.19)], cancer [1.68 (1.23-2.31)], cardiovascular disease [1.62 (1.31-2.00)], renal disease [1.56 (1.12-2.16)], autoimmune disease [1.50 (1.25-1.79)], and hyperlipidemia [1.43 (1.16-1.77)] were also associated with pertussis diagnosis. Finally, acute respiratory events within 30 days prior to index date, such as pneumonia, acute bronchitis, and upper respiratory tract infection (URTI), were highly associated with increased odds of pertussis diagnosis [adjusted ORs of 8.28 (5.10-13.44), 4.86 (3.84-6.14), and 2.90 (2.30-3.67), respectively].ConclusionsThis study's findings complement and expand upon previous studies on the adult pertussis population, generating real-world data to describe underlying clinical characteristics of those diagnosed with pertussis in South Korea.

Dataset Information

Humidifier Disinfectants Are a Cause of Lung Injury among Adults in South Korea: A Community-Based Case-Control Study.

Backgrounds

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Humidifier Disinfectants Are a Cause of Lung Injury among Adults in South Korea: A Community-Based Case-Control Study.

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