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Am J Epidemiol 2003; 158:203-206.
Copyright © 2003 by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health


ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Invited Commentary: Is Indoor Mold Exposure a Risk Factor for Asthma?

Jeroen Douwes1,2  and Neil Pearce1

1 Centre for Public Health Research, Massey University–Wellington Campus, Wellington, New Zealand.
2 Division of Environmental and Occupational Health, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Received for publication March 5, 2003; accepted for publication April 1, 2003.

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.


    INTRODUCTION
 
A remarkably consistent association between home dampness and respiratory symptoms and asthma has been observed in a large number of studies conducted across many geographic regions (1–10). In a recent review of 61 studies, it was concluded that dampness was a significant risk factor for airway effects such as cough, wheeze, and asthma, with odds ratios ranging from 1.4 to 2.2 (8). Positive associations have been shown in infants (4, 5), children (1, 2, 10), and adults (6, 7, 9), and some evidence for dose-response relations has also been demonstrated (11). Although it has been concluded that the evidence for a causal association between dampness and respiratory morbidity is strong (3, 8), this evidence is based mainly on cross-sectional studies and prevalence case-control studies; few prospective studies have . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Exposure assessment
Causal mechanisms
The hygiene hypothesis
Conclusions

    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 

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