New York - A Belgian study reveals that swimming in chlorinated pools can increase a child’s risk of asthma and allergies like hay fever.

Researchers discovered that teenagers who swam more than 100 hours total (over their lifetimes) in chlorinated pools increased their risk of asthma as much as six times.

The impact of pool chemicals on the respiratory health of kids under 18 appears to outweigh the impact of even cigarette smoking, by a factor of five. Toxicology professor Alfred Bernard, one of the lead researchers, said, “There is little doubt that chlorine is an important factor implicated in the epidemic of allergic diseases.”

The study looked at 733 teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18, who swam in chlorinated pools. This group was compared with 114 other teenagers who swam in pools using a mixture of copper and silver to control bacteria and other pool organisms. The finding were published in the journal Pediatrics.

Adolescents deemed “sensitive” had hay fever rates three to six times higher for individuals who swam more than 100 hours in chlorinated pools. For kids who had put in more than 1,000 hours, the odds of allergy symptoms like allergic rhinitis increased two to three times. In addition, the longer the exposure to chlorinated pools, the higher the proportion of kids with asthma.

Children without predisposing risks to allergies were not at increased risk. It was only adolescents who already could be sensitive to allergy development.

The study also showed that the risk of asthma and allergy was not affected by swimming in copper-silver sanitized pools.

Researchers hypothesized that the chlorine-based toxic chemicals in pool water, and any chlorine by-products that hover in the air at the water surface, may cause airway changes in the sensitive individual, which promotes allergies and asthma development.

Source: Yahoo News