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Do Carpets Impair Indoor Air Quality and Cause Adverse Health Outcomes: A Review

Several earlier studies have shown the presence of more dust and allergens in carpets compared with non-carpeted floors. At the same time, adverse effects of carpeted floors on perceived indoor air quality as well as worsening of symptoms in individuals with asthma and allergies were reported. Avoid...

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Autores principales: Becher, Rune, Øvrevik, Johan, Schwarze, Per E., Nilsen, Steinar, Hongslo, Jan K., Bakke, Jan Vilhelm
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5858259/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29360764
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15020184
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author Becher, Rune
Øvrevik, Johan
Schwarze, Per E.
Nilsen, Steinar
Hongslo, Jan K.
Bakke, Jan Vilhelm
author_facet Becher, Rune
Øvrevik, Johan
Schwarze, Per E.
Nilsen, Steinar
Hongslo, Jan K.
Bakke, Jan Vilhelm
author_sort Becher, Rune
collection PubMed
description Several earlier studies have shown the presence of more dust and allergens in carpets compared with non-carpeted floors. At the same time, adverse effects of carpeted floors on perceived indoor air quality as well as worsening of symptoms in individuals with asthma and allergies were reported. Avoiding extensive carpet use in offices, schools, kindergartens and bedrooms has therefore been recommended by several health authorities. More recently, carpet producers have argued that former assessments were obsolete and that modern rugs are unproblematic, even for those with asthma and allergies. To investigate whether the recommendation to be cautious with the use of carpets is still valid, or whether there are new data supporting that carpet flooring do not present a problem for indoor air quality and health, we have reviewed the literature on this matter. We have not found updated peer reviewed evidence that carpeted floor is unproblematic for the indoor environment. On the contrary, also more recent data support that carpets may act as a repository for pollutants which may become resuspended upon activity in the carpeted area. Also, the use of carpets is still linked to perception of reduced indoor air quality as well as adverse health effects as previously reported. To our knowledge, there are no publications that report on deposition of pollutants and adverse health outcomes associated with modern rugs. However, due to the three-dimensional structure of carpets, any carpet will to some extent act like a sink. Thus, continued caution should still be exercised when considering the use of wall-to-wall carpeted floors in schools, kindergartens and offices, as well as in children’s bedrooms unless special needs indicate that carpets are preferable.
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spelling pubmed-58582592018-03-19 Do Carpets Impair Indoor Air Quality and Cause Adverse Health Outcomes: A Review Becher, Rune Øvrevik, Johan Schwarze, Per E. Nilsen, Steinar Hongslo, Jan K. Bakke, Jan Vilhelm Int J Environ Res Public Health Review Several earlier studies have shown the presence of more dust and allergens in carpets compared with non-carpeted floors. At the same time, adverse effects of carpeted floors on perceived indoor air quality as well as worsening of symptoms in individuals with asthma and allergies were reported. Avoiding extensive carpet use in offices, schools, kindergartens and bedrooms has therefore been recommended by several health authorities. More recently, carpet producers have argued that former assessments were obsolete and that modern rugs are unproblematic, even for those with asthma and allergies. To investigate whether the recommendation to be cautious with the use of carpets is still valid, or whether there are new data supporting that carpet flooring do not present a problem for indoor air quality and health, we have reviewed the literature on this matter. We have not found updated peer reviewed evidence that carpeted floor is unproblematic for the indoor environment. On the contrary, also more recent data support that carpets may act as a repository for pollutants which may become resuspended upon activity in the carpeted area. Also, the use of carpets is still linked to perception of reduced indoor air quality as well as adverse health effects as previously reported. To our knowledge, there are no publications that report on deposition of pollutants and adverse health outcomes associated with modern rugs. However, due to the three-dimensional structure of carpets, any carpet will to some extent act like a sink. Thus, continued caution should still be exercised when considering the use of wall-to-wall carpeted floors in schools, kindergartens and offices, as well as in children’s bedrooms unless special needs indicate that carpets are preferable. MDPI 2018-01-23 2018-02 /pmc/articles/PMC5858259/ /pubmed/29360764 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15020184 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Becher, Rune
Øvrevik, Johan
Schwarze, Per E.
Nilsen, Steinar
Hongslo, Jan K.
Bakke, Jan Vilhelm
Do Carpets Impair Indoor Air Quality and Cause Adverse Health Outcomes: A Review
title Do Carpets Impair Indoor Air Quality and Cause Adverse Health Outcomes: A Review
title_full Do Carpets Impair Indoor Air Quality and Cause Adverse Health Outcomes: A Review
title_fullStr Do Carpets Impair Indoor Air Quality and Cause Adverse Health Outcomes: A Review
title_full_unstemmed Do Carpets Impair Indoor Air Quality and Cause Adverse Health Outcomes: A Review
title_short Do Carpets Impair Indoor Air Quality and Cause Adverse Health Outcomes: A Review
title_sort do carpets impair indoor air quality and cause adverse health outcomes: a review
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5858259/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29360764
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15020184
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