WEDNESDAY, Aug. 28, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- If you believe anti-allergic mattress covers help you control your asthma, you may want to sleep on that.
A new study in the journal Thorax found the covers offered no clinical improvement in people with moderate to severe asthma who already use regular treatment to control their asthma.
But the mattress covers do reduce exposure to house dust mites during the night.
The study included 30 non-smokers with asthma who were allergic to dust mites. Sixteen of them used anti-allergic mattress covers for a year and 14 used matching placebo mattress covers. All the people in the study stayed on their normal asthma medication and there was no carpeting in any of their bedrooms.
The researchers measured the subjects' bronchial hyper-responsiveness and quality of life before and after the study period. The patients were asked to score their lung and nose symptoms, morning and evening peak flow values, and their medication use over the course of the study.
Dust samples to determine dust mite allergen (Der p 1) concentrations were taken from the mattress covers before and after the study.
Der p 1 concentrations were much lower after one year on the anti-allergic mattress covers compared to the placebo covers. Both groups of people showed no significant improvements in histamine levels or quality of life, the study found.
Neither group showed much change in lower airway symptoms, morning and evening peak flow values, or use of medication.
The group using the anti-allergic mattress covers did show a decrease in nasal symptoms, but that change wasn't much different than the one in the placebo group.
The authors conclude that anti-allergic mattress covers do reduce house dust mite exposure, but that reduction didn't benefit people with moderate to severe asthma. They say that may be due to the chronic stage of the asthma and/or limiting allergen avoidance measures to the bedroom.
The researchers suggest future studies should examine whether avoidance measures during the day and night in the early stages of asthma are more effective.
More information
For additional insight into home controls for those with asthma, the American Lung Association offers these tips.
