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Feather Bedding Could Reduce House-Dust Mite Sensitisation in Children

Use of feather bedding may reduce initial sensitisation with house-dust mite (HDM) in children, Australian and United States researchers say.
Feather bedding may also reduce respiratory symptoms among children already sensitised to HDM.

The researchers examined the relationship between use of feather bedding and HDM sensitisation and airway disease through a cross-sectional analysis of the childhood component in a birth-cohort study. Participants included 498 children living in northern Tasmania in 1997.

Feather bedding has been inversely associated with childhood wheeze and HDM allergen levels, note the investigators, from the Australian National University in Canberra, the University of Tasmania in Hobart, Australia, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, in Melbourne, Australia, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in the United States.

They used three outcome measures: atopic sensitisation to Dermatophagoides farinae or Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus allergens, spirometric lung function and child respiratory symptoms.

The researchers report HDM sensitisation was strongly associated with more than 12 episodes of wheeze in the past year (rate ratio [RR], 19.61. It was only weakly associated (RR, 1.65) with asthma ever.

Use of feather quilts was associated with reduced HDM sensitisation (adjusted RR [ARR], 0.60). It was also associated with reduced frequent wheeze episodes (ARR, 0.24) over the past year.

They point out wheeze reduction was more evident among children already sensitised to HDM.
Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 2002; 55: 556-562. "Feather bedding and house dust mite sensitization and airway disease in childhood"

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