Reducing exposure to house dust mite allergen does not improve asthma

The non-pharmacological treatment of asthma involves eliminating allergens from the patient's surroundings. Many patients are sensitised to allergens from house dust mites and a reduction in exposure to mite antigen in the home may alleviate asthma symptoms. Both chemical and physical methods of reducing exposure to mites have been tried, as have combinations of these but results of clinical trials have been equivocal. On p 1105 Gøtzsche et al present the results of a meta-analysis of 23 studies of methods to reduce the exposure of asthma patients to mites. They failed to find a benefit from any of the measures and believe that current chemical and physical methods cannot be recommended as prophylactic treatment for asthma patients who are sensitive to mites.


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Relevant Article

House dust mite control measures in the management of asthma: meta-analysis

Peter C Gøtzsche, Cecilia Hammarquist, and Michael Burr
BMJ 1998 317: 1105-1110. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]