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Swimming or continuous use of outdoor chlorinated swimming pools can increase the chances of a child developing asthma, Belgian researchers say. Other studies have also linked chlorine and asthma.
The new findings, published in the current issue of European Respiratory Journal, cast doubt on the safety of outdoor swimming pools. Outdoor pools are said to be unsafe compared to indoor ones because chlorine vapour remains trapped inside the enclosed space of outdoor swimming pools.
“The more you swim, the higher the risk of getting asthma,” says Alfred Bernard, a toxicologist at Catholic University of Louvain in Brussels, who led the study.
The research on outdoor swimming pools is new and the study was done for the first time, adds Bernard.
Asthma, which affects more than 800 million people worldwide, is the most common paediatric chronic illness with symptoms that include wheezing, shortness of breath, coughing and chest tightness.
Bernard and colleagues showed that outdoor pools are more risky than indoor ones because harmful vapours remain on the pool surface and do not drift away. And because children tend to spend more time in pools, they are more likely to swallow chlorinated water or ingest vapours containing chemicals that attack the cellular barriers protecting the lung from allergens, Bernard says.
Locally, Dr Nicholas Ochieng of Kenyatta National Hospital says chlorine used in swimming pools, whether indoor or outdoor, contain higher levels of chemicals than chlorine used in tap water.
Although the risk is higher in children, chlorine in swimming pools also affects adults. Airborne particles like those that evaporate when the sun heats chlorinated water induce acute respiratory and bronchial ailments.
Dr Ochieng says early diagnosis and prompt treatment significantly reduces or decreases asthma infections.
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