The Association between Perceived Annoyances in the Indoor Home Environment and Respiratory Infections: A Danish Cohort Study with up to 19 Years of Follow-Up

Anne Marie Kirkegaard (), Stine Kloster, Michael Davidsen, Anne Illemann Christensen, Jørgen Vestbo, Niss Skov Nielsen, Annette Kjær Ersbøll and Lars Gunnarsen
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Anne Marie Kirkegaard: Department of the Built Environment, Aalborg University, A.C. Meyers Vaenge 15, 2450 Copenhagen, Denmark
Stine Kloster: National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Studiestraede 6, 1455 Copenhagen, Denmark
Michael Davidsen: National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Studiestraede 6, 1455 Copenhagen, Denmark
Anne Illemann Christensen: National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Studiestraede 6, 1455 Copenhagen, Denmark
Jørgen Vestbo: Division of Infection, Immunity and Respiratory Medicine, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9 PL, UK
Niss Skov Nielsen: Department of the Built Environment, Aalborg University, A.C. Meyers Vaenge 15, 2450 Copenhagen, Denmark
Annette Kjær Ersbøll: National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Studiestraede 6, 1455 Copenhagen, Denmark
Lars Gunnarsen: Department of the Built Environment, Aalborg University, A.C. Meyers Vaenge 15, 2450 Copenhagen, Denmark

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 3, 1-16

Abstract: The increasing prevalence of reported annoyances in the indoor environment threatens public health. This study aimed to investigate the association between perceived annoyances from the home environment and respiratory infections among individuals with and without asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A total of 16,688 individuals from the Danish Health and Morbidity Survey initiated in 2000 were grouped according to their patterns of perceived annoyances. Information on respiratory infections (all causes, bacterial, viral, and those leading to hospital admissions) was obtained from Danish registers up to 19 years after the survey. Poisson regression of incidence rates (IRs) was applied to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRRs). Annoyances significantly increased the IR for respiratory infections of all causes and bacterial respiratory infections in individuals without asthma or COPD, adjusted IRR 1.16 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.34) and 1.15 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.31), respectively. However, no difference was observed for viral respiratory infections nor hospital admissions. Individuals with asthma or COPD and a high level of annoyances had a non-significantly increased IR in all four analyses of respiratory infections. These findings provide support for perceived annoyances as an important risk factor for respiratory infections.

Keywords: perceived annoyances; indoor environment; respiratory infection; environmental epidemiology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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