Use of cleaning products, Ménag’Score® and respiratory health in the SEPAGES cohort
Several studies suggest that the use of cleaning products can have an impact on respiratory health and in particular asthma. Up to now, most of the studies dealing with cleaning products have estimated the exposure to the products through questionnaires completed by the volunteers. This method can lead to classification errors, due in particular to consumers' lack of knowledge of the composition of the products used, which are often a complex mixture of numerous chemical ingredients. <br>In SEPAGES cohort, volunteers filled out a questionnaire about their use of cleaning products at home and used a smartphone application to enter the name and barcode of the products. Thus, we were able to compare two methods of collecting information on the use of cleaning products: a questionnaire and an application. In addition, we studied the possible links between the use of cleaning products and asthma symptoms among the mothers in the cohort. Finally, we evaluated the relevance of using the Ménag'Score® as a public health tool.
Comparison of the two methods
The agreement between the two methods (application and questionnaire) is around 70% for the use of sprays, 80% for the use of bleach-based products and 50% for scented products. Overall, the volunteers declared using more products by application than by answering the questionnaires. For example, 87% of the volunteers indicated that they use scented products via the application, compared to only 41% via the questionnaire.
Use of the Ménag’Score<sup>®</sup>
The data collected in the SEPAGES study allowed to study the interest of the Menag’Score®, a 5-level score developed by the National Institute of Consumption. This score allows to evaluate the level of toxicity, both environmental and sanitary, of the cleaning products from their exhaustive list of ingredients. The Ménag’Score® ranks each cleaning product from A to E, from the least risky to the most risky for health and environment.
Main results
The study suggests that the greater the number of cleaning products used per week, the higher the risk is of having asthma symptoms, especially with the use of scented products. Furthermore, the results suggest that weekly use of cleaning products with a D or E score leads to a higher risk of having respiratory symptoms. Finally, a higher use of cleaning products rated D or E seems to lead to an increase in the number of asthma symptoms.
What next?
These first studies on the associations between the Menag’score® and respiratory health in the Sepages cohort are encouraging. It is consistent with a governmental proposal (https://tinyurl.com/3853sfme) which stresses the need for better consumer information and proposes the creation of a Toxi’Score. Also, the use of the Ménag’Score® in epidemiological studies should continue to validate the use of this score on cleaning products to inform the consumer. And thus, make it a relevant public health tool in the same way as the Nutri-Score.
Pour aller plus loin :
Pierre Lemire, Emmanuel Chevallier, Sarah Lyon-Caen, Etienne Sévin, Anne Boudier, Emilie Pacheco Da Silva, Christian De Thuin, Rémy Slama, Orianne Dumas, Valérie Siroux, Nicole Le Moual – « Association between household cleaning product profiles evaluated by the Ménag'Score® index and asthma symptoms among women from the SEPAGES cohort ». Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 2022
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Pierre Lemire, Sofia Temam, Sarah Lyon-Caen, Catherine Quinot, Etienne Sévin, Sophie Remacle, Karine Supernant, Rémy Slama, Orianne Dumas, Valérie Siroux, Nicole Le Moual – « Comparison of a Barcode-Based Smartphone Application to a Questionnaire to Assess the Use of Cleaning Products at Home and Their Association with Asthma Symptoms ». Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021.
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