Re: Study: Mold linked to asthma

[Guest guest]

Some folks at LBL did a study a few months ago LBNL - 59363

" Meta-Analyses of the Associations of Respiratory Health Effects with

Dampness and Mold in Homes "

The authors were J Fisk, Quanhong Lei-Gomez and Mark J. Mendell

They are with the

Environmental Energy Technologies Division

Indoor Environment Department

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Berkeley, CA 94720

Here is the first paragraph:

" The Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences

recently completed a

critical review of the scientific literature pertaining to the association

of indoor dampness and

mold contamination with adverse health effects. In this paper, we report the

results of

quantitative meta-analysis of the studies reviewed in the IOM report. We

developed point

estimates and confidence intervals (CIs) to summarize the association of

several respiratory and

asthma-related health outcomes with the presence of dampness and mold in

homes. The odds

ratios and confidence intervals from the original studies were transformed

to the log scale and

random effect models were applied to the log odds ratios and their variance.

Models were

constructed both accounting for the correlation between multiple results

within the studies

analyzed and ignoring such potential correlation. Central estimates of ORs

for the health

outcomes ranged from 1.32 to 2.10, with most central estimates between 1.3and

1.8.

Confidence intervals (95%) excluded unity except in two of 28 instances, and

in most cases the

lower bound of the CI exceeded 1.2. In general, the two meta-analysis

methods produced similar

estimates for ORs and CIs. Based on the results of the meta-analyses,

building dampness and

mold are associated with approximately 30% to 80% increases in a variety of

respiratory and

asthma-related health outcomes. The results of these meta-analyses reinforce

the IOM's

recommendation that actions be taken to prevent and reduce building dampness

problems. "