Exposures to humidifier disinfectant and various health conditions in Korean based on personal exposure assessment data of claimants for compensation

Q: What health outcomes were investigated in relation to humidifier disinfectant exposure?

The study assessed associations with nine reported conditions: pneumonia, asthma, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, otorhinolaryngologic disease, brain disease, dermatological disease, lung cancer, and all cancers.

Q: How was humidifier disinfectant exposure evaluated?

Exposure was defined using criteria from personal assessment data, including duration, proximity, direction, chemical type, cumulative exposure time, indoor air concentration, and cumulative exposure level.

Q: What did the results show about cumulative exposure and disease risk?

After adjustment for sociodemographic and health behavioral factors and other chemical exposures, increased cumulative HD exposure time showed significant associations with risks of all nine diseases, with all p-trends below 0.05.

Sep 24, 2026

Uploaded by Pentious

Humidifier disinfectants (HDs) were widely used in South Korea to prevent microbial growth in humidifier tanks, yet airborne exposure has been linked to severe lung injury. Limited evidence addresses broader health outcomes reported by compensation claimants. This study evaluates associations between estimated HD exposure and nine reported health conditions using Korean personal exposure assessment survey data, applying logistic regression and adjustment for sociodemographic, behavioral, and other chemical exposures.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Hong et al. BMC Public Health (2023) 23:1800 [https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-16389-x](https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-16389-x) BMC Public Health RESEARCH Open Access Exposures to humidifier disinfectant and various health conditions in Korean based on personal exposure assessment data of claimants for compensation Myeongjin Hong1†, Min Jae Ju1,2†, Jeonggyo Yoon3, Wonyoung Lee1, Seula Lee1,4, Eun‑kyung Jo4, Seo‑Youn Choi5, Wonho Yang6 and Yoon‑Hyeong Choi2* Abstract Background Humidifier disinfectants (HDs) were commonly used household chemicals to prevent microbial growth in a humidifier water tank in South Korea. A growing body of evidence has indicated that its airborne exposure can induce severe lung injury. However, there has been low awareness of other health outcomes in HD users. This study aimed to evaluate health conditions appealed by claimants for compensation in relation with an increased exposure to HD. Methods From survey data of personal HD exposure assessment of claimants for compensation in Korea, we included a total of 4,179 subjects [cases in each dataset were defined by nine reported health conditions, i. e., pneumonia, asthma, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, otorhinolaryngologic disease, brain disease (includ‑ ing cerebrovascular disease), dermatological disease, lung cancer, and all cancers] . HD exposures was considered as the following exposure criteria: exposure duration, exposure proximity, exposure direction, chemical type, cumula‑ tive exposure time, indoor air concentration, and cumulative exposure level. Logistic regression models were used to evaluate the associations between HD exposure and health conditions. Results After adjusting for sociodemographic and health behavioral factors and other chemical exposures (house‑ holds, environmental, and occupational exposures), an increase in cumulative HD exposure time was significantly associated with risks of all nine diseases (all p‑trends < 0. 05) . An increase in HD exposure duration was associated with asthma, respiratory disease, otorhinolaryngologic disease, dermatological disease, all cancers, and lung cancer (p‑trends < 0. 05) . Indoor HD concentration was associated with only pneumonia (p‑trend = 0 . 015) . Conclusions Our findings suggest that cumulative exposures to airborne HD might potentially increase the risk of various reported health outcomes. Keywords Humidifier disinfectant, Humidifier disinfectant exposure, Reported health conditions †Myeongjin Hong and Min Jae Ju are equal contributors to this work as co‑ first authors. *Correspondence: Yoon‑Hyeong Choi [yoonchoi@korea.ac.kr](yoonchoi@korea.ac.kr) Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s) 2023. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ()[. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ()[http://creativeco](http://creativeco)[mmons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/](mmons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/))

FAQs

What health outcomes were investigated in relation to humidifier disinfectant exposure?

The study assessed associations with nine reported conditions: pneumonia, asthma, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, otorhinolaryngologic disease, brain disease, dermatological disease, lung cancer, and all cancers.

How was humidifier disinfectant exposure evaluated?

Exposure was defined using criteria from personal assessment data, including duration, proximity, direction, chemical type, cumulative exposure time, indoor air concentration, and cumulative exposure level.

What did the results show about cumulative exposure and disease risk?

After adjustment for sociodemographic and health behavioral factors and other chemical exposures, increased cumulative HD exposure time showed significant associations with risks of all nine diseases, with all p-trends below 0.05.

Sep 24, 2026

Uploaded by Pentious