Replacing gas stove can help asthmatics as much as some drugs, US experts find | Asthma
A study conducted in the USA When people with poorly controlled asthma replaced their gas stoves and stoves with electric ones, there was a 70 percent decrease in hospital admissions and days off from work or school.
Ohio public property MetroSaglik It began work in December 2024, but the funding was terminated early by the incoming Trump administration. was designed To investigate whether replacing gas cooking improved asthma in 1,200 people living near Cleveland, Ohio.
Prof Ash Sehgal The project leader, from Case Western Reserve University, said: “We completed the project in fewer than 100 households. As a result, more than 1,100 households did not benefit. We also had to lay off approximately 20 project staff.”
The team completed the ongoing stove replacements and closed the project, but to the researchers’ surprise, the benefits were clearly detectable even in the scaled-down study of 72 homes.
“We were surprised to analyze the results and find a very large effect size. The improvements in asthma symptoms after the stove replacement were similar to or greater than those reported in clinical trials of commonly used asthma medications,” Sehgal said.
Each person was assessed for four weeks before the gas hob replacement and for four weeks afterwards, including scoring their asthma using an internationally recognized scale. scale from zero to six.
The mean asthma score increased from 2.6 to 1.5 on a scale where a change of 0.5 is considered clinically significant. This included fewer hospital visits for asthma flare-ups and fewer days off from school or work. They also found less wheezing, less use of reliever inhalers, and fewer people who said their asthma was waking them up throughout the night.
Air pollution was measured in 44 of the houses. On average, nitrogen dioxide dropped 70%.
Angela Bland, a 38-year-old resident of Akron, Ohio, said: “I didn’t realize there was a problem with my gas stove until I started using an electric stove. Now I need the inhaler much less.”
“The improvement in asthma control after changing the stove was much greater than the improvements seen with placebo medications, so it is unlikely that the placebo effect explains our findings,” Sehgal said. He added that it would be beneficial to repeat the research with more people and a control group.
Dr Tiffany Yang Born in NHS BradfordHe, who was not involved in the US research, said: “The Ohio study adds to growing evidence that reducing indoor air pollution can have meaningful health benefits, particularly for people with asthma. As governments and housing providers invest in improving housing stock, indoor air quality should be considered alongside energy efficiency and decarbonisation measures to maximize health benefits.”
More than 97% of participants in the Ohio study were satisfied or very satisfied with their new stove. A high level of satisfaction was also detected. replacement of pilot burner and induction cooker Project in Greater Manchester.
One evidence review More than 10 years ago, it evaluated 41 studies and concluded that gas cooking increased the risk of asthma in children. With around 40,000 Given the premature deaths from gas cooking each year in the EU and UK, improved health could be an important co-benefit of net zero action to replace gas cooking at home.
