Clinical effects associated with laundry detergents among children aged <5 years exposed in Italy between September 2010 and June 2015
| LDPs | TLDs | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clinical effects | n | %† | n | %† | n | %† |
| Association between exposure and clinical effects*** | ||||||
| None/not associated | 393 | 23.8 | 882 | 76.7 | 1275 | 45.6 |
| Insufficient data | 23 | 1.4 | 18 | 1.6 | 41 | 1.5 |
| Associated | 1233 | 74.8 | 250 | 21.7 | 1483 | 53.0 |
| Severity of clinical effects*** | ||||||
| Low | 1076 | 87.3 | 249 | 99.6 | 1325 | 89.3 |
| Moderate | 147 | 11.9 | 1 | 0.4 | 148 | 10.0 |
| High | 10 | 0.8 | 0 | 0.0 | 10 | 0.7 |
| Main clinical effects | ||||||
| Gastrointestinal** | 937 | 76.0 | 166 | 66.4 | 1103 | 74.4 |
| Vomiting | 897 | 72.7 | 154 | 61.6 | 1051 | 70.9 |
| Diarrhoea | 129 | 10.5 | 8 | 3.2 | 137 | 9.2 |
| Abdominal pain | 26 | 2.1 | 4 | 1.6 | 30 | 2.0 |
| Nausea | 23 | 1.9 | 8 | 3.2 | 31 | 2.1 |
| Heartburn | 8 | 0.6 | 2 | 0.8 | 10 | 0.7 |
| Oropharyngeal*** | 330 | 26.8 | 31 | 12.4 | 361 | 24.3 |
| Hyperaemia oral cavity | 170 | 13.8 | 9 | 3.6 | 179 | 12.1 |
| Irritation/pharyngeal pain | 140 | 11.4 | 14 | 5.6 | 154 | 10.4 |
| Drooling | 108 | 8.8 | 5 | 2.0 | 113 | 7.6 |
| Lips hyperaemia | 7 | 0.6 | 4 | 1.6 | 11 | 0.7 |
| Lips/oral cavity oedema | 7 | 0.6 | 0 | 0.0 | 7 | 0.5 |
| Lips/oral cavity de-epithelisation | 7 | 0.6 | 0 | 0.0 | 7 | 0.5 |
| Respiratory** | 228 | 18.5 | 28 | 11.2 | 256 | 17.3 |
| Cough | 208 | 16.9 | 25 | 10.0 | 233 | 15.7 |
| Dyspnoea | 20 | 1.6 | 4 | 1.6 | 24 | 1.6 |
| Laryngospasm/bronchospasm | 19 | 1.5 | 0 | 0.0 | 19 | 1.3 |
| Stridor | 7 | 0.6 | 0 | 0.0 | 7 | 0.5 |
| Wet rales | 14 | 1.1 | 0 | 0.0 | 14 | 0.9 |
| Bronchial hypersecretion | 11 | 0.9 | 0 | 0.0 | 11 | 0.7 |
| Respiratory failure | 6 | 0.5 | 0 | 0.0 | 6 | 0.4 |
| Glottis/oesophagus caustic injuries/erosion | 5 | 0.4 | 0 | 0.0 | 5 | 0.3 |
| Glottis/epiglottis oedema | 3 | 0.2 | 0 | 0.0 | 3 | 0.2 |
| Chemical pneumonia | 3 | 0.2 | 0 | 0.0 | 3 | 0.2 |
| Ocular | 209 | 17.0 | 44 | 17.6 | 253 | 17.1 |
| Hyperaemia | 198 | 16.1 | 39 | 15.6 | 237 | 16.0 |
| Irritation/pain | 184 | 14.9 | 34 | 13.6 | 218 | 14.7 |
| Lachrymation | 35 | 2.8 | 3 | 1.2 | 38 | 2.6 |
| Photophobia | 24 | 1.9 | 2 | 0.8 | 26 | 1.8 |
| Corneal abrasion | 22 | 1.8 | 0 | 0.0 | 22 | 1.5 |
| Ptosis | 19 | 1.5 | 1 | 0.4 | 20 | 1.3 |
| Dermal | 76 | 6.2 | 10 | 4.0 | 86 | 5.8 |
| Hyperaemia | 36 | 2.9 | 4 | 1.6 | 40 | 2.7 |
| Oedema | 20 | 1.6 | 1 | 0.4 | 21 | 1.4 |
| Rash | 8 | 0.6 | 0 | 0.0 | 8 | 0.5 |
| Macule | 5 | 0.4 | 1 | 0.4 | 6 | 0.4 |
**p<0.01; ***p<0.001.
†The column percentages referring to the ‘association between exposure and clinical effects’ were calculated using the total number of patients exposed to LDPs (n=1649), TLDs (n=1150) and total (n=2799), respectively; the column percentages referring to ‘severity of clinical effects’ and the ‘main clinical effects’ were calculated using the total number of patients with associated clinical effects exposed to LDPs (n=1233), TLDs (n=250) and total (n=1483), respectively. The percentages referring to ‘main clinical effects’ may not add up to 100% because some patients had more than one clinical effect.
LDP, laundry detergent pod; TLD, traditional laundry detergent.