Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Centre for Environmental Health, Institute of Epidemiology I, Neuherberg, Germany.
Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2013 Mar;216(2):109-14. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2012.05.002. Epub 2012 Jun 14.
Each day we are exposed to a complex mixture of microbial agents and components in indoor environments. A major part of this mixture derives from fungal and bacterial origin. The impact between those microbial agents in the home environment in relation to respiratory health in children is still a major issue in research. There is little known about the causal agents that provoke or arrest the development of allergic respiratory disorders in children. Identification is complicated by the biodiversity and variability of microbial components in indoor air as well as the lack of validated and standardized exposure assessment methods. In this review, we aim to consider all important aspects in terms of research which may encounter an epidemiological study. Apart from the need for standardized exposure assessment methods which consider cost, handling and effort, especially for the participants, we suggest that a combination of different analysis methods such as chemical and molecular methods may have the potential to best describe the microbial milieu in indoor environments at present. Further, the impact of mould and moisture remediation activities on health is still heavily under investigated, especially in larger prospective cohorts of children and should be a topic of future research. Moreover, the exposure to mould and microbial agents might be embedded in a broader spectrum of children's health such as behavior and cognitive development.
我们每天都会接触到室内环境中复杂的微生物混合物和成分。这些混合物的主要部分来自真菌和细菌。家庭环境中这些微生物与儿童呼吸道健康之间的相互影响仍然是研究中的一个主要问题。对于引发或阻止儿童过敏呼吸道疾病发展的致病因子知之甚少。由于室内空气中微生物成分的生物多样性和可变性，以及缺乏经过验证和标准化的暴露评估方法，识别变得复杂。在这篇综述中，我们旨在考虑在进行流行病学研究时可能遇到的所有重要方面。除了需要考虑成本、处理和努力（尤其是对参与者而言）的标准化暴露评估方法之外，我们还建议，将化学和分子方法等不同分析方法相结合，可能是目前最佳描述室内环境中微生物环境的方法。此外，霉菌和潮湿修复活动对健康的影响仍在深入研究之中，尤其是在更大的儿童前瞻性队列中，这应该是未来研究的一个课题。此外，霉菌和微生物的暴露可能嵌入在儿童健康的更广泛的范围内，如行为和认知发展。
