Parents' anti-asthma efforts often off-target

Parents of children with asthma may have good intentions, but they often miss the mark when targeting triggers that set off their children's asthma, researchers report.

A new survey found that although more than 80 percent of parents of children with asthma took steps to protect them from environmental factors that cause asthma, a little more than half of these interventions were not helpful. Most frequently, parents took steps that did not target the specific triggers that set off their child's asthma.

"Every child with asthma is different due to the different triggers for each child's asthma," lead author Dr. Michael D. Cabana of the University of Michigan Medical System in Ann Arbor told Reuters Health.

"Don't assume that what is necessarily helpful for one child will be useful for your child," Cabana said. The Michigan researcher advised parents to talk with their child's physician before making major changes to the house or buying expensive items to help a child's asthma.

"The most elaborate and expensive strategies may not be the most effective strategies for your child's asthma," Cabana said. "Sometimes simple things go a long way."

For example, parents who smoke should ask a physician about ways to quit before buying air filters or special vacuums, according to Cabana. And before changing bedding or buying a new mattress, parents should find out whether these changes are appropriate for their child.

Cabana's team interviewed the parents of almost 900 children with asthma. About four out of five parents reported making at least one change to target a trigger that set off their child's asthma.

However, out of the nearly 1,800 actions parents took to target asthma triggers, 51 percent were unlikely to be effective, Cabana's team reports in the August issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

For instance, several hundred parents reported buying an air filter, but only about 70 percent of these parents had a child whose asthma was triggered by something that might be controlled with an air filter.

Although parents' efforts were often unhelpful, only about 1 percent of the interventions were actually harmful to their child's asthma.

But the high level of inappropriate actions demonstrates the importance of emphasizing effective methods, according to the researchers. Otherwise, parents who go to the trouble and expense of ineffective actions may become discouraged, Cabana and his colleagues suggest.

Tobacco smoke is considered the most important indoor air irritant, but only about 6 percent of parents who smoked tried to reduce their child's exposure to smoke, according to the report. Although quitting smoking can be difficult, its benefits for asthmatic children of smokers are well proven, unlike more expensive methods, such as air filters, which are of "questionable utility," according to the researchers.