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. 2022 Oct;33(10):e13864.
doi: 10.1111/pai.13864.

Early-life residential exposure to moisture damage is associated with persistent wheezing in a Finnish birth cohort

Christina Tischer  1   2   3   4 , Martin Täubel  3 , Pirkka V Kirjavainen  3   5 , Martin Depner  6 , Anne Hyvärinen  3 , Eija Piippo-Savolainen  7   8 , Juha Pekkanen  3   9 , Anne M Karvonen  3
Affiliations

Early-life residential exposure to moisture damage is associated with persistent wheezing in a Finnish birth cohort

Christina Tischer et al. Pediatr Allergy Immunol. 2022 Oct.

Abstract

Background and aims: Moisture damage increases the risk for respiratory disorders in childhood. Our aim was to determine whether early age residential exposure to inspector-observed moisture damage or mold is associated with different wheezing phenotypes later in childhood.

Methods: Building inspections were performed by civil engineers, in a standardized manner, in the children's homes-mostly single family and row houses (N = 344)-in the first year of life. The children were followed up with repeated questionnaires until the age of 6 years and wheezing phenotypes-never/infrequent, transient, intermediate, late onset, and persistent-were defined using latent class analyses. The multinomial logistic regression model was used for statistical analysis.

Results: A total of 63% (n = 218) had infrequent or no wheeze, 23% (n = 80) had transient and 9.6% (n = 21) had a persistent wheeze. Due to the low prevalence, results for intermediate (3.8%, n = 13) and late-onset wheeze (3.5%, n = 12) were not further evaluated. Most consistent associations were observed with the persistent wheeze phenotype with an adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence intervals) 2.04 (0.67-6.18) for minor moisture damage with or without mold spots (present in 23.8% of homes) and 3.68 (1.04-13.05) for major damage or any moisture damage with visible mold in a child's main living areas (present in 13.4% of homes). Early-age moisture damage or mold in the kitchen was associated with transient wheezing.

Conclusion: At an early age, residential exposure to moisture damage or mold, can be dose-dependently associated especially with persistent wheezing phenotype later in childhood.

Keywords: childhood; indoor; latent class analysis; moisture damage; mold; wheezing phenotype.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Prevalence of wheezing in different time points during the first 6 years of life in five wheezing phenotypes analyzed by latent class analyses (LCA) reproduction.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Adjusted associations between moisture damage in the child's main living area and transient or persistent wheezing phenotypes compared to no or infrequent wheezing phenotype. No moisture damage (reference category) = no damage or mold in the child's main living areas (minor = minor moisture damage with or without mold spots; major = major moisture damage or any moisture damage with visible mold. Multinomial logistic regression models are adjusted for study cohort, living on a farm, gender, maternal history of allergic diseases (hay fever, atopic dermatitis, and/or asthma), smoking during pregnancy, and the number of siblings. *p < .05.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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