Special asthma equipment a waste of money

Apr 16 2008

Researchers from the Cochrane Collaboration research group have reviewed 54 studies in order to assess just how well specialist asthma equipment worked; the studies involved over 3,000 people.

According to experts many asthmatics are allergic to tiny mites that live in dust in carpets, bedding and soft toys - as a result a range of equipment such as mattress protectors, specialist cleaners, high-efficiency vacuum cleaners and air filters have appeared on the market to supposedly deal with the allergy.

The researchers say asthmatics should not waste money on such equipment as it is of little use, as they found while there was some dust mite reduction, it was not significant.

In 36 trials, physical methods, such as mattress casings, ten chemical methods, and eight methods which were a combination of chemical and physical methods were assessed.

While the team found that mite reduction occurred in 17 trials, it was judged not significant enough to help ward off asthma and the products were largely ineffective.

The researchers say the level of allergens is so high in most homes that what remains after the treatment is still high enough to cause asthma attacks.

Dr. Peter Gotzsche, the lead author of the review says he is confident that there is no need to buy expensive vacuum cleaners or mattress covers or to use chemical methods against house dust mites because these treatments do not work.

Experts say the study has confirmed other research which showed that dust prevention methods have little effect on reducing overall asthma symptoms.

There are currently 5.2 million people in the UK receiving treatment for asthma and over 2 million Australians have asthma.

Approximately 15% of Australian children have asthma and indigenous Australians have more problems with asthma than other Australians.

Even though asthma is one of the most common reasons for hospital admissions in children and around 400 people die each year from it, many asthma sufferers do not regularly use preventive medication.