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Spring Mattresses Rather Than Foam Reduce Exposure to House Dust Mite Allergens

Replacing foam mattresses with spring mattresses can help reduce exposure to house dust-mite allergens.

Foam mattresses with covers are four times as likely to house mite faeces and eight times as likely if they don't have covers.

Norwegian and American researchers point out that surprisingly few studies have evaluated the allergen content in different types of mattresses, despite considerable efforts to develop anti-dust mite strategies.

They investigated the presence of mite faeces as an indicator of mite-allergens in both spring and foam mattresses in the homes of 152 school children in northern Norway.

Investigators from the University of Tromso in Norway and the University of California in Berkley collected dust samples from 24 foam mattresses without covers, 68 foam mattresses with covers and 24 spring mattresses. They used a guanine colorimetric paper test to detect mite faeces.

Results show mite faeces were in 40.5 percent of the dust samples from foam mattresses without covers, in 26.3 percent of the foam mattresses with covers and in only 12.5 percent of the spring mattresses.

The presence of mite faeces was associated with seven factors: signs of dampness, mattress age, mattress cleaning, frequency of vacuuming in the bedroom, mechanical ventilation, bedroom temperature and bedroom relative humidity.
Allergy, 2002; 57: 538-542. "House-dust mites and mattresses"

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