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Fitted carpets: Advantages for allergy patients

30 June 2005, Germany
In the new edition of "Allergie konkret", a health magazine of the DAAB (Deutscher Allergie- und Asthmabund e.V.), which gives detailed and interdisciplinary information about themes like "allergies", "asthma" or "neurodermatitis" to patients, relatives or physicians, we found a report which will please the producers of textile floor coverings. The article "Better carpets" deals with fine dust load in the indoor air and gives clear preference to textile floor coverings.
Below you find the article which is also available on DAAB’s webpage: http://www.daab.de/allergie_konkret.php.

A smooth flooring or a fitted carpet? So far, the answer has divided allergy patients, doctors and scientists into two camps. A study commissioned by the DAAB (German Allergy and Asthma Society) now shows: Using a smooth flooring markedly increases the risk of finding an increased fine dust load in indoor rooms, while using fitted carpets minimises this risk. The results will be presented to the public in Düsseldorf at the German Allergy and Asthma Conference on Saturday, 18 June 2005.

The average fine dust concentration in indoor rooms equipped with smooth flooring material is twice as high as in indoor rooms equipped with wall-to-wall carpets, and thus exceeds the limit value. With 62.9 µg/m³, the arithmetic mean value of the fine dust concentration in rooms with smooth flooring clearly exceeds the limit value of 50 µg/m³, whereas in households with fitted carpets, the mean value amounts to 30.4 µg/m³ and is thus substantially lower than the limit value.

When individual rooms are considered, the limit value is exceeded in some cases. This, however, is due to other marginal parameters such as smoking, pets, kind and frequency of cleaning, activities in the rooms, etc. These will be commented upon in detail in our scientific publication.

Above all for particularly sensitive persons already suffering from previous damage to their airways, the selection of a flooring material binding dust and not emitting it to the air to be breathed is an essential preventive aspect.

Fine dust is a big problem especially for allergy patients. Irrespective of the kind of the dust inhaled, the particles as such, with their mechanical effect, cause irritation when they enter the respiratory tract. Where the bronchial system has previous damage, this effect will be so much the stronger. Moreover, we find other pollutants bound to these particles, e.g., allergens which, in this manner, may get deep down into the lungs where relevant reactions may be caused.

The quality of the outdoor air has continuously improved up to the present day. This is the consequence of scientific findings and the resulting laws and regulations made to protect man. This is also the core of what the current fine dust discussion is aiming at.

From the point of view of the German Allergy and Asthma Society (DAAB) and also from ours, i.e., the Society for Environmental and Indoor Room Analysis (GUI), indoor rooms – where we spend more than 90 per cent of our lifespans – are given too little attention.

A detailed scientific publication is currently being prepared and will deal with the marginal parameters of the measuring places and their influence on the fine dust load. The study will be published in the course of the year and, of course, will be made available also to the readers of the DAAB health magazine“Allergie konkret“.

The results were presented to the public in Düsseldorf at the German Allergy and Asthma Conference on Saturday, 18 June 2005.

Aachen in June 2005
Dr. Edmund Vankann

To download this article: GuT allergy pdf

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