Mold Exposure Increases Kids Risk of Asthma

Spike Mafford/ThinkstockCINCINNATI, OH – According to study results published in the August issue of Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, nearly nine million children in the U.S. have asthma, and previous studies have shown that mold exposure contributes to the development of the condition, particularly in children.
 
The study confirms the early findings that kids exposed to higher levels of mold at one year of age were almost three times as likely to develop asthma by the age of seven as kids with lower mold exposures during infancy.  Mold exposures at seven years of age were not associated with asthma at that age.

Tiina Reponen, PhD, lead study author and University of Cincinnati (UC) professor of environmental health explains that “early life exposure to mold seems to play a critical role in childhood asthma development." Professor Reponen said, "This study should motivate expectant parents…to correct water damage and reduce the mold burden in their homes to protect the respiratory health of their children.”

University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center researchers analyzed seven years of comprehensive data for 176 children to evaluate the effects of mold exposure in early life.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Study: Online Pollen Information Not Always Accurate

George Doyle/Stockbyte(LONDON) -- Americans suffering from hay fever may not want to rely heavily on what they find online regarding pollen count, according to a study by the Environmental Allergy Assays of London.

People with seasonal allergic rhinitis, also known as hay fever, often turn to various online sources for pollen count information to know when to limit their exposure to the types of pollen that spawn their symptoms. However, the findings of the Environmental Allergy Assays study show that some of the information available online is not very accurate.

The study examined the disparities between two popular websites that report pollen count information versus information from 13 representative pollen stations. Presented at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the study found that the online pollen count information differed significantly from the actual counts derived from the 13 stations.

Based on the findings, the authors of the study say people should not rely on pollen information from just any website to predict their symptoms, but should instead visit the National Allergy Bureau at www.aaai.org/nab for accurate information.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio