They repeated it to us in every way during the pandemic: you have to wash your hands often, if there is no soap even with disinfectants. But are there any contraindications for anyone? Today a study conducted by the University of Yamanashi in Japan highlights how frequent use of medical solutions and surface sanitizing products during pregnancy could be associated with a greater risk for the baby of developing skin allergies, in particular the eczema (or dermatitis), and asthma.
The research highlights a possible statistical link and not a cause-effect link. The results are published on Occupational & Environmental Medicinethe group’s magazine Bmj (British Medical Journal).
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I study
The study took place in the years leading up to the pandemic. The researchers administered questionnaires to nearly 79,000 pregnant Japanese women who used medical disinfectants based on alcohol, chlorhexidine or quaternary ammonium salts for work. Participants indicated the frequency of exposure to these products in the second and third trimester of gestation, on a scale ranging from no use to daily use.
They were then asked to report any allergies in their children at the age of 3. The researchers assessed and then ruled out the weight of any confounding factors, including allergies in the mother or father, exposure to cigarette smoke or alcohol consumption during pregnancy (which must be completely avoided).
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More disinfectants, more allergies
The survey found that on average the children of mothers most in contact with these products have skin allergies and asthma more often. In the case of daily exposure by the mother, the risk of allergic dermatitis in the child at the age of 3 rises by 29% and that of asthma by 26%. On the other hand, there is no growth in cases of food allergy.
The research has limitations, given that the data are reported by the participants themselves: in some cases, as the authors explain, there could be confusion about the definition of medical disinfectant, therefore about the frequency of use. “The study, still to be investigated, is certainly interesting”, he comments Alessandro Fiocchi, Head of Allergology of the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital, not involved in the work, “since it demonstrates, at a statistical level, a hypothesis that is widely discussed”.
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From the skin to the air we breathe
The authors propose 2 mechanisms to explain the phenomenon. Sanitizing gels can alter the mother’s skin microbiome: according to some research this alteration is potentially linked to the development of skin allergies in the baby. Furthermore, the authors explain, a strong exposure of women during pregnancy to volatile organic compounds, present in the air and released by the products used for disinfection, could alter the baby’s immune system and increase the risk of asthma. In general, environmental factors, including exposure to pollutants, have a bearing on the incidence of allergic diseases and numerous other diseases.
“It is no coincidence – comments Fiocchi – that in the last 50 years we have gone from a prevalence of 10% to 30% for allergies. The risk feared by allergists is that of a ‘Covid generation’ of children born during the pandemic is a little more prone to these problems “, but we hope this is not the case. In short, the news does not seem reassuring, given the Covid period in which we find ourselves, but we could not and cannot behave differently, at least while the pandemic is still underway.
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But there is something we can do to defend babies before birth. “Pregnant women”, continues the allergist, “can be advised to take probiotics and prebiotics, together with specific vitamin factors, under medical supervision, to protect the unborn child”.
Not only the skin microbiome, in fact, but also the intestinal microbiome, both of the mother and the child, have an important role in relation to allergies. “The bacterial flora is influenced by that of the mother and her dysregulations can be involved in allergic diseases, and not only”, explains Fiocchi. “In pregnancy also the use of antibiotics [farmaci usati per curare le infezioni batteriche, ndr] it can increase the likelihood of a child’s allergies. “