Damp housing, sensitisation to house dust mite and respiratory symptoms

One thousand one hundred and sixty seven adults aged between 20 and 44 years and living in three towns in East Anglia were randomly selected from the Family Health Service Authority Register to take part in a cross-sectional survey of risk factors for asthma. Of these 907 (77.7%) had blood tests for specific IgE to common allergens including house dust mite (HDM) and Cladosporium. One hundred and sixteen subjects (9.95) reported they had lived in a home that, in the last 12 months, had 'water damage to the building or its contents, for example by broken pipes, leaks or floods' (recent damp). In univariate analyses recent damp was significantly associated with wheeze (WHZ), wheeze with breathlessness (WHZ+SOB) and wheeze in the absence of a cold (WHZ-cold) but not asthma attacks. From a logistic regression model controlling for age, gender, smoking, type of home, age of home, presence of mould, and cooking with gas (with interaction term with gender) recent damp in the home was significantly associated with wheeze. Sensitisation to HDM was significantly associated with living in a home with recent damp, but the risk of having symptoms if living in a damp home was similar in sensitised and unscnsitiscd individuals (p>0.05). Unadjusted prevalence (%) Adjusted odds No Recent Recent ratio Damp Damp (95% CI) WHZ 25.9 34.5 1.53 (1.00 to 2.35) WHZ + SOB 15.2 24.1 1.83 (1.13 to 2.95) WHZ-cold 17.5 26.7 1.68 (1.05 to 2.68) asthma attacks 5.0 6.9 1.26 (0.57 to 2.80) specific IgE to HDM 23.2 37.8 2.08 (1.28 to 3.36) Those who report living in damp homes are at an increased risk of being sensitised to house dust mite but this does not fully explain their increased risk of having respiratory symptoms.