Faculty of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK), Jounieh, Lebanon; Institut National de Santé Publique (INSPECT-LB), Epidémiologie Clinique et Toxicologie - Liban, Beirut, Lebanon;
Institut National de Santé Publique (INSPECT-LB), Epidémiologie Clinique et Toxicologie - Liban, Beirut, Lebanon.
Allergol Immunopathol (Madr). 2021 Jan 2;49(1):135-145. doi: 10.15586/aei.v49i1.41. eCollection 2021.
To validate a scale to assess the hygiene hypothesis and the association between hygiene and asthma among Lebanese preschool children aged 3-5 years.
This cross-sectional study, conducted between November 2018 and March 2019, enrolled 515 preschool children. Asthma and potential risk factors, including hygiene, were assessed using a standardized questionnaire. A specific hygiene hypothesis scale has been generated and validated for this purpose.
The hygiene hypothesis scale items converged over a solution of nine factors that had an Eigenvalue over 1, explaining a total of 65.86% of the variance. An acceptable Cronbach's alpha value was recorded for the hygiene hypothesis scale (0.696). Variables correlated with higher odds of asthma were male gender (ORa = 0.41 for females), living near a prairie sprayed with pesticides (ORa = 3.09), having a heating system in the bedroom compared to the sitting room (ORa = 9.97), attending kindergarten (ORa = 2.80), having a mother who smokes waterpipe compared to not smoking (ORa = 3.34), having a mother with a history of asthma (ORa = 5.50), and having respiratory infections (ORa = 14.72). However, the hygiene hypothesis score was not associated with higher odds of asthma (p = 0.881).
The current results suggested that neither home cleaning nor personal cleanliness was correlated with asthma in preschool children. Larger prospective studies that measure the intensity and duration of exposure to each toxicant are suggested to better assess the hygiene hypothesis items and their association with asthma.
验证评估卫生假说以及黎巴嫩 3-5 岁学龄前儿童卫生状况与哮喘之间关联的量表。
本横断面研究于 2018 年 11 月至 2019 年 3 月期间开展，共纳入 515 名学龄前儿童。采用标准化问卷评估哮喘和潜在风险因素，包括卫生状况。为此生成并验证了特定的卫生假说量表。
卫生假说量表项目在九个因素的解决方案中收敛，这些因素的特征值均大于 1，共解释了 65.86%的方差。卫生假说量表的 Cronbach's alpha 值记录为 0.696，可接受。与哮喘发生几率较高相关的变量包括：女性（女性的优势比[ORa]为 0.41）、居住在喷洒农药的草原附近（ORa = 3.09）、卧室有暖气而不是客厅（ORa = 9.97）、上幼儿园（ORa = 2.80）、母亲用水烟管吸烟而非不吸烟（ORa = 3.34）、母亲有哮喘病史（ORa = 5.50）和呼吸道感染（ORa = 14.72）。然而，卫生假说评分与哮喘发生几率较高无关（p = 0.881）。
目前的结果表明，家庭清洁和个人卫生与学龄前儿童哮喘均无相关性。建议开展更大规模的前瞻性研究，测量每种有毒物质的暴露强度和持续时间，以更好地评估卫生假说项目及其与哮喘的关联。
