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http://dx.doi.org/10.5668/JEHS.2020.46.2.224

The Role of Exposure Assessment of Humidifier Disinfectant (HD) in the Program to Monitor HD Associated Health Problems  

Park, Soyoung (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University)
Park, Ju-Hyun (Department of Statistics, Dongguk University)
Lee, Seunghee (Department of Environmental Health, Korea National Open University)
Jang, Woo-Sung (Department of Environmental Health, Korea National Open University)
Kim, So-Yeon (Department of Environmental Health, Korea National Open University)
Park, Jihoon (Environmental Safety Group, Korea Institute of Science and Technology Europe Forschungsgesellschaft mbH)
Mun, Eunchan (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University)
Lee, Yesung (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University)
Kim, Hyunil (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University)
Kim, Hyeong-Cheol (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University)
Park, Dong-Uk (Department of Environmental Health, Korea National Open University)
Publication Information
Journal of Environmental Health Sciences / v.46, no.2, 2020 , pp. 224-231 More about this Journal
Abstract
Objective: The objectives of this study are to update the information on the characteristics of humidifier disinfectant (HD) usage with HD associated health problems and to discuss the role of HD exposure assessment in the national program to monitor health problems in patients with HD associated diseases. Method: A total of 201 HD associated patients who registered to undergo clinical examination at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital was interviewed to acquire their responses regarding several HD use characteristics, including type of HD brands used, HD use duration, average daily HD use hours, and the volume of the room in which HD was used. The responses of the HD associated patients to HD use-related questions were compared between responses in the lung injury investigation and this study. Results: The responses of HD associated patients in this study were found to be different from those in the lunginjury investigation. In particular, some of the patients who had not answered in the lung-injury investigation were able to answer thanks to assistance from the investigator in this study. For their responses regarding the name of the most commonly used HD brand, the number of patients who did not answer (N=11) was reduced to eight in this study. Significant changes in the responses of study subjects to questions related to HD use were achieved through the interview in this study. Conclusion: This study found significant changes in the responses regarding HD use characteristics. HD exposure assessment should be included in the program in order to allow surveillance of HD associated health problems.
Keywords
Humidifier disinfectant (HD); HD exposure assessment; HD lung injury; HD associated health problem;
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  • Reference
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