Tiny Swimmers Face Added Asthma Risks
High chlorine levels and poor ventilation may damage babies' lungs

(HealthDay News) -- Taking an infant to swim class might seem like a great way to introduce the child to the water, but researchers have found that regular exposure to the heavily chlorinated water and air of indoor pools could harm a baby's developing airways.

The study, which appeared in the journal Pediatrics , found that babies who were regularly exposed to indoor swimming pools had a higher risk of developing asthma than did babies who weren't swimming inside.

"Our data suggest that infant swimming practice in chlorinated indoor swimming pools is associated with airway changes that, along with other factors, seem to predispose children to the development of asthma and recurrent bronchitis," the Belgian researchers report.

Dr. Alan Khadavi, a pediatric asthma specialist at New York University Medical Center in New York City , said the finding "certainly makes us reconsider taking these young kids swimming if it may be detrimental to lung development."

But he cautioned that information came from just one small study. "I think it's too soon to tell parents that they can't take kids swimming," he told HealthDay . "It's something to think about, but there's no direct link at this point."

Almost 7 million American children -- or about 9 percent -- have asthma, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Asthma sends almost 2 million people to emergency departments each year and, despite advances in treatment, is still responsible for almost 4,000 deaths a year, the center reports.

Strong chemical odors often trigger asthma symptoms, but the Belgian study suggested that exposure to pool chemicals, especially when the airways are small and most vulnerable, might play a causal role in asthma.

The study involved 341 schoolchildren, all between 10 and 13 years of age when the study began. The youngsters and their parents were interviewed about their history of asthma and environmental exposures and how often they went swimming when they were infants. Forty-three children had regularly visited indoor swimming pools when they were babies. The researchers obtained blood samples from the children to check for markers of lung health, and they took air samples from swimming pools visited by the children.

Youngsters who'd regularly visited indoor pools had double the risk of experiencing shortness of breath and were nearly four times as likely to have had chest tightness. Their rates of wheezing were 50 percent higher than children who didn't swim as infants.

"If [swimming] is a regular activity, I can only recommend parents don't take their baby in poorly managed pools, where water and air contain excessive levels of chlorine," the study's author, Alfred Bernard, research director of the National Fund for Scientific Research in Belgium , told HealthDay . "Such pools can be identified by the very strong chlorine smell in the air or at their surface as well as by the irritating effects on the eyes or upper respiratory tract that one may feel after swimming."

For those who have pools at home, Bernard cautioned parents to "avoid over-chlorinating the water."

"It is important to realize that studies on the safety of these chemicals for young children have started only recently," he said.

To be safe, he said, babies shouldn't spend too much time in a pool: no more than 20 minutes, Bernard suggested.

On the Web

To learn more about health issues involving indoor pools, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SOURCES: HealthDay News ; Alfred Bernard, Ph.D., professor, Catholic University Louvain, and research director, National Fund for Scientific Research, Brussels, Belgium; Alan Khadavi, M.D., pediatric asthma specialist, New York University Medical Center, New York City; June 2007, Pediatrics ; National Center for Health Statistics (www.cdc.gov/nchs)
Author: Serena Gordon
Publication Date: June 30, 2008
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