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Fragranced consumer products: effects on autistic adults in the United States, Australia, and United Kingdom

Fragranced consumer products, such as cleaning supplies, air fresheners, and personal care products, can have adverse effects on both air quality and health. This study investigates the effects of fragranced products on autistic individuals ages 18–65 in the United States, Australia, and United King...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Steinemann, Anne
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Netherlands 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6244938/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30546500
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11869-018-0625-x
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author Steinemann, Anne
author_facet Steinemann, Anne
author_sort Steinemann, Anne
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description Fragranced consumer products, such as cleaning supplies, air fresheners, and personal care products, can have adverse effects on both air quality and health. This study investigates the effects of fragranced products on autistic individuals ages 18–65 in the United States, Australia, and United Kingdom. Nationally representative population surveys (n = 1137; 1098; 1100) found that, across the three countries, 4.3% of adults (n = 142) report medically diagnosed autism (2.3%), an autism spectrum disorder (2.4%), or both. Of these autistic adults, 83.7% report adverse health effects from fragranced products, including migraine headaches (42.9%), neurological problems (34.3%), respiratory problems (44.7%), and asthma attacks (35.9%). In particular, 62.9% of autistic adults report health problems from air fresheners or deodorizers, 57.5% from the scent of laundry products coming from a dryer vent, 65.9% from being in a room cleaned with scented products, and 60.5% from being near someone wearing a fragranced product. Health problems can be severe, with 74.1% of these effects considered potentially disabling under legislation in each country. Further, 59.4% of autistic adults have lost workdays or lost a job, in the past year, due to fragranced product exposure in the workplace. More than twice as many autistic as well as non-autistic individuals would prefer that workplaces, health care facilities, and health care professionals were fragrance-free rather than fragranced. Results show that vulnerable individuals, such as those with autism or autism spectrum disorders, can be profoundly, adversely, and disproportionately affected by exposure to fragranced consumer products. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s11869-018-0625-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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spelling pubmed-62449382018-12-11 Fragranced consumer products: effects on autistic adults in the United States, Australia, and United Kingdom Steinemann, Anne Air Qual Atmos Health Article Fragranced consumer products, such as cleaning supplies, air fresheners, and personal care products, can have adverse effects on both air quality and health. This study investigates the effects of fragranced products on autistic individuals ages 18–65 in the United States, Australia, and United Kingdom. Nationally representative population surveys (n = 1137; 1098; 1100) found that, across the three countries, 4.3% of adults (n = 142) report medically diagnosed autism (2.3%), an autism spectrum disorder (2.4%), or both. Of these autistic adults, 83.7% report adverse health effects from fragranced products, including migraine headaches (42.9%), neurological problems (34.3%), respiratory problems (44.7%), and asthma attacks (35.9%). In particular, 62.9% of autistic adults report health problems from air fresheners or deodorizers, 57.5% from the scent of laundry products coming from a dryer vent, 65.9% from being in a room cleaned with scented products, and 60.5% from being near someone wearing a fragranced product. Health problems can be severe, with 74.1% of these effects considered potentially disabling under legislation in each country. Further, 59.4% of autistic adults have lost workdays or lost a job, in the past year, due to fragranced product exposure in the workplace. More than twice as many autistic as well as non-autistic individuals would prefer that workplaces, health care facilities, and health care professionals were fragrance-free rather than fragranced. Results show that vulnerable individuals, such as those with autism or autism spectrum disorders, can be profoundly, adversely, and disproportionately affected by exposure to fragranced consumer products. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s11869-018-0625-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Springer Netherlands 2018-09-25 2018 /pmc/articles/PMC6244938/ /pubmed/30546500 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11869-018-0625-x Text en © The Author(s) 2018, Corrected Publication 2018 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, duplication, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.
spellingShingle Article
Steinemann, Anne
Fragranced consumer products: effects on autistic adults in the United States, Australia, and United Kingdom
title Fragranced consumer products: effects on autistic adults in the United States, Australia, and United Kingdom
title_full Fragranced consumer products: effects on autistic adults in the United States, Australia, and United Kingdom
title_fullStr Fragranced consumer products: effects on autistic adults in the United States, Australia, and United Kingdom
title_full_unstemmed Fragranced consumer products: effects on autistic adults in the United States, Australia, and United Kingdom
title_short Fragranced consumer products: effects on autistic adults in the United States, Australia, and United Kingdom
title_sort fragranced consumer products: effects on autistic adults in the united states, australia, and united kingdom
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6244938/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30546500
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11869-018-0625-x
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