Gas heater link to child illness
Media Release - University of Auckland - 20 December 2016
Gas heaters used for home heating have been found to increase the risk of respiratory illnesses in young children,
according to the latest research from the University of Auckland.
Paediatrician Dr Cameron Grant from the University’s Centre for Longitudinal Research, says the results of the research
project point to a worrying finding that the risk of hospitalisations for acute respiratory infections in under-five
year olds was increased in households where gas heaters were used to heat the room the child slept in during their first
year of life.
“The quality of housing, particularly for young children, is an issue of major concern in contemporary New Zealand and
has most recently focused on known problem areas of cold, dampness and cigarette smoke,” he says.
Acute respiratory infections are common in early childhood, accounting for many doctor visits and hospital admissions.
Specific aspects of children’s home environments have been shown to increase the risk of these infections before age
five. These include the presence of dampness and mould, household crowding and exposure to air pollutants produced by
heating, cooking and cigarette smoke.
The relationship between internal living environments and respiratory disease was investigated by a research team from
the Centre for Longitudinal Research as part of the longitudinal study of child development, Growing Up in New Zealand.
The study was published recently in the journal, Environmental Health.
“In this study one in five mothers reported frequent presence of dampness and condensation in the room where the child
slept,” says Professor Grant. “Although these factors were positively linked to the incidence of acute respiratory
infections, the association was no longer statistically significant after we adjusted for the use of gas heating.”
“The independent relationship with gas heating identifies this as an area which, if addressed, could reduce the number
of children admitted to hospital with these respiratory infections,” he says.
The most common forms of heating are solid fuel burners and portable electric heaters. Among the 7000 Growing Up in New Zealand participant families, one in seven mothers reported using a flued gas heater, and one in eight an unflued gas heater,
for household heating.
“Unlike electric and solid-fuel burning heaters, gas heaters (particularly if unflued) emit moisture and a number of
pollutants including nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and formaldehyde, which affect children’s
respiratory health,” says Dr Grant.
“This is a type of household heating that has been banned in a number of other countries, but there are no such
restrictions in New Zealand.
“The burden of hospital admissions for acute respiratory infections among children in this nationally representative
study is considerable,” he says. “Our study demonstrates a significant association between the risk of acute respiratory
infection hospitalisation before five years of age and the use of gas heaters in the child’s room during infancy.
“Reducing our reliance on gas heaters in New Zealand households, alongside other measures to improve housing conditions,
would be a major step forward in improving our children’s indoor living environments and thereby health,” says Dr Grant.
ENDS
Study Results in brief
· Study participants comprised 6112 children from the Growing Up in New Zealand longitudinal child cohort study whose mothers provided information about the household living environment in a computer
assisted face to face interview when the children were nine months old.
· Forty eight percent of mothers reported living in rental accommodation; 22 percent reported household crowding and 20
percent dampness. Twenty percent reported heavy condensation and 13 percent mould or mildew in the room where the child
slept.
· Fourteen percent of mothers smoked cigarettes while 30 percent of households contained other family members who
smoked.
· Eleven percent of homes did not use any form of heating. Of those that did 89 percent reported using electric heaters,
14 percent flued gas heating, 12 percent unflued portable gas heating and 30 percent used solid fuel burners (wood and
coal). Three percent of homes used flued gas heating and one percent used unflued gas heaters in the child’s room.
· Hospital admissions were determined through linkage to the Ministry of Health database of hospital events covering the
period from birth to five years of age. 708 children (twelve percent) were hospitalised with a diagnosis of ARI during
their first five years. 553 (nine percent) were hospitalised once only while 18 were admitted five or more times.
· The incidence of ARIs requiring hospital admission was 33 children per 1,000 per year. This is a higher rate than
those reported in a recent global assessment and may in part be explained by the relatively poor condition of the home
environment, where New Zealand currently ranks 20th and 17th(respectively) for children living in crowded and poor
households.
About Growing Up in New Zealand
Growing Up in New Zealand is New Zealand’s contemporary longitudinal study of child development, tracking the development of nearly 7000 children
born in 2009 and 2010 in the context of their diverse families and environments from before their birth until they are
young adults.
A key strength of the study is that the diversity of the child cohort reflects the ethnic and socioeconomic diversity of
today’s primary school age children. The study has collected detailed multidisciplinary information about children’s
early development on multiple occasions throughout their preschool years and will continue to do so every two to three
years until they are adults.
The unique information collected within Growing Up in New Zealand is designed to contribute evidence to inform
· A better understanding of the causal pathways that lead to particular developmental outcomes in contemporary New
Zealand, and
· The effective evaluation, development and implementation of programmes and policies to optimise: support for families;
health and development of children; and equity of outcomes across and within the New Zealand population.
Growing Up in New Zealand is University of Auckland-led research, funded by the Crown. The Crown funding of the core study and data collection is
managed by the Social Policy and Evaluation Research Unit (Superu). For further information visit www.growingup.co.nz