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Brian P. Leaderer,¹ Kathleen Belanger,¹ Elizabeth Triche,¹ Theodore Holford,¹ Diane R. Gold,^2,3 Young Kim,¹ Thomas Jankun,¹ Ping Ren,¹ Jean-ellen McSharry,¹ Thomas A. E. Platts-Mills,⁴ Martin D. Chapman,⁴ and Michael B. Bracken¹

¹Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA; ²Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; ³Pulmonary Division, Boston's Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; ⁴Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy and Immunology, University of Virginia Medical Center, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

Abstract

Home exposures to aeroallergens are an important environmental factor in allergic sensitization and in the development and exacerbation of asthma. We assessed variations in home concentrations of dust mite, cockroach, cat, and dog allergens in dust collected in the main living areas of asthmatics' homes by family income, mother's education, dwelling type, population density, household population density, and ethnicity in Connecticut and south-central Massachusetts. Dust samples were collected at the time of home interview in 999 homes as part of an ongoing longitudinal birth cohort study of 1,002 infants and their asthmatic siblings. The analysis employed lower and upper cut points for group 1 dust mite ( 2.0 µg/g and 10 µg/g) , cockroach ( 1.0 U/g and 4.0 U/g) , cat ( 1.0 µg/g and 8.0 ug/g) , and dog ( 2.0 µg/g and 10.0 µg/g) allergens. Subject residences were geocoded to assess population density from the U.S. Census, and multiple logistic regression was used to control for confounding. The portion of homes at the lower cut point for dust mite, cockroach, cat, and dog allergens were 46.9%, 24.9%, 42.2%, and 35.6%, respectively ; the upper cut point for each of the allergens was reached in 22.4%, 13.4%, 21.0%, and 22.9% of the homes, respectively. In all, 86.0% of the homes had at least one allergen at the lower cut point, and 58.0% had at least one allergen at the upper cut point. Forty-nine percent of the homes had two or more allergens at the lower cut point, and 19.7% had two or more allergens at the upper cut point. Higher education of the mother, higher household income, living in a single-family home in a less densely populated area with fewer people per room, and being a white household were associated with elevated dust mite, cat, and dog allergens and low cockroach allergen. In contrast, low income, living in a multifamily home in a high population density area with a higher occupancy rate per room, and being a Hispanic or black household were associated with elevated cockroach allergens and low concentrations of dust mite, cat, and dog allergens. Although the presence of an individual allergen is more likely associated with one or more socioeconomic or ethnic factors, most homes typically have multiple allergen burdens in excess of concentrations thought to be associated with sensitization and exacerbation of asthma. Mite and cockroach allergens have distinct and opposite associations with socioeconomic factors and population density. Key words: aeroallergens, asthma, cats, cockroaches, dogs, dust mites, indoor air, socioeconomic factors. Environ Health Perspect 110:419-425 (2002) . [Online 12 March 2002]

http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2002/110p419-425leaderer/ abstract.html

Address correspondence to B.P. Leaderer, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, 60 College Street, P.O. Box 208034, New Haven, CT 06520-8034 USA. Telephone: (203) 785-2880. Fax: (203) 737-6023.E-mail: brian.leaderer@yale.edu

We thank the 1,002 families in Connecticut and south-central Massachusetts who permitted us to conduct allergen dust sampling in their homes. We also thank the following hospitals, from which our study population was selected: in Connecticut, Yale-New Haven, Danbury, Bridgeport, and Hartford ; in Massachusetts, Bay State.

This study was funded by grants ES07456 and ES05410 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Received 1 June 2001 ; accepted 20 September 2001.