Allergy Relief Bedding

TITLE: Dust-free bedrooms in the treatment of asthmatic children with house dust or house dust mite allergy: a controlled trial.
AUTHORS: Murray AB; Ferguson AC
SOURCE: Pediatrics 1983 Mar; 71(3): 418-22
CITATION IDS: PMID: 6338475 UI: 83143089
ABSTRACT: Twenty asthmatic children with prick tests positive for house dust or house dust mites were allocated to two groups that were matched for severity. One group was provided with zippered vinyl covers for pillows, mattresses, and box springs, and instructions for making the bedroom as easy to keep clean as a hospital ward; the other group was not. At the end of a 1-month study period, there was a marked and statistically significant difference in symptoms and signs of asthma between the two groups. Those with a dust-free bedroom had fewer days on which wheezing was observed, medication was given, or an abnormally low peak expiratory flow rate was recorded. Bronchial tolerance to aerosolized histamine significantly improved in the group whose bedrooms had been modified. A dust-free bedroom diminishes bronchial irritability and is a practical and effective method for decreasing asthma in children with house dust or house dust mite allergy.

TITLE: Allergen avoidance in house dust mite sensitive adult asthma.
AUTHORS: Walshaw MJ; Evans CC
SOURCE: Q J Med 1986 Feb; 58(226): 199-215
CITATION IDS: PMID: 3520626 UI: 86233964
ABSTRACT: Fifty adult asthmatic patients with strongly positive skin prick tests to the house dust mite were admitted into a prospective randomised controlled trial of house dust mite avoidance in the community. Twenty- two of the experimental group completed one year of dust avoidance and 19 of these tolerated the use of plastic mattress and pillow covers. Twenty of the control group (who did not alter their housecleaning habits) also completed one year of study. A fall in mite and dust levels was noted in the homes of the experimental but not the control group. Fifteen of the experimental group who completed the study were strongly RAST positive (score 3 or more) to the house dust mite. These patients had a significant improvement in FEV1/FVC, PEFR, PC20, use of treatment, and symptom score at one year, whilst the seven experimental patients who were not strongly RAST positive (score 2 or less) did not, suggesting that the change noted in the former patients was not merely due to a placebo effect. Fifteen of the control group who completed the study were also strongly RAST positive for the house dust mite and these patients showed no change in any of the parameters. This study demonstrates that adult asthmatic patients can successfully carry out house dust eradication procedures in the community over a long period of time, and that those patients who are allergic to the house dust mite appear to have both subjective and objective improvement in their asthma.

TITLE: House dust mite avoidance measures improve peak flow and symptoms in patients with allergy but without asthma: a possible delay in the manifestation of clinical asthma?
AUTHORS: Cloosterman SG; Hofland ID; Lukassen HG; Wieringa MH; Folgering HTh; van der Heide S; Brunekreef B; van Schayck CP
AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Department of General Practice and Social Medicine, Medical Centre Dekkerswald, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
SOURCE: J Allergy Clin Immunol 1997 Sep; 100(3): 313-9
CITATION IDS: PMID: 9314342 UI: 97457998
BACKGROUND: Asthma caused by allergy to house dust mite is a growing problem. Patients with allergy who do not have asthma (yet) might develop asthma depending on exposure to precipitating factors.
OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine whether house dust mite avoidance measures have an effect on the development of asthma.
METHODS:Patients with allergy (n = 29) who had no diagnosis of asthma (FEV1 of 99.1% +/- 10.6% of predicted, peak flow variability of 5.21% +/- 3.41%, reversibility of FEV1 after 400 microg salbutamol of 3.92% +/- 3.75% according to the reference values) were randomly allocated (subjects blinded) to a treatment (n = 16) and a placebo group (n = 13). House dust mite avoidance treatment consisted of applying Acarosan (Allergopharma, J. Ganzer KG, Hamburg, Germany) (the placebo group used water) to the floors (living room, bedroom), and the use of covers for mattresses and bedding that were impermeable to house dust mite (the placebo group used cotton covers for mattresses only). We tested whether the intervention had an effect on peak flow parameters and asthma symptom scores during 6 weeks of treatment.
RESULTS: Significant improvements were seen in the treatment group in symptom scores (Borg score) for disturbed sleep, breathlessness, wheeze, and overall symptom score. Slight but statistically significant improvements in peak flow (morning, evening, and variability) were seen in the treatment group also. No significant changes were seen in the placebo group.
CONCLUSIONS: Although this study is not long enough to study the development of asthma, the results indicates that house dust mite avoidance measures had an effect on peak flow parameters and asthma symptoms in patients with allergy but without asthma. These findings might implicate that a shift in developing clinically manifest asthma could be achieved with house dust mite avoidance measures. To give a better answer to whether preventing the development of asthma is possible, larger studies with a longer follow-up period are necessary.

TITLE: Reducing domestic exposure to dust mite allergen reduces bronchial hyperreactivity in sensitive children with asthma.
AUTHORS: Ehnert B; Lau-Schadendorf S; Weber A; Buettner P; Schou C; Wahn U
AUTHOR AFFILIATION: University Children's Hospital, Berlin, Germany.
SOURCE: J Allergy Clin Immunol 1992 Jul;90(1):135-8
CITATION IDS: PMID: 1629503 UI: 92332907
ABSTRACT: (not available)