Mattress covers are not useful in reducing dust mite allergy symptoms.
Dust mites are one of the most common causes of allergies among the 40 percent of the world’s population that suffers from the breathing affliction. People try and combat this issue in a variety of ways, including buying special mattress and pillow covers that are meant to repel the dust mites from remaining in their bed. These items are often recommended by doctors to their patients, despite no substantial research to indicate that they work. According to a new study, mattress covers are not effective at all.
The study – which was conducted by members of the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans – was recently published in the journal Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. It looked at the combined results for 24 different kinds of ways to reduce allergy and asthma symptoms to see which methods were the most effective. The team found that while mattress covers were useful in reducing exposure to dust mites – cutting it down by 20 percent – there was no significant impact on dust mite sensitization or its resulting effects.
“Based on this analysis which combines data from many different studies, there doesn’t seem to be any benefit to using dust mite covers to prevent allergic disease or to prevent symptoms,” the study’s lead author Whitney Arroyave told Reuters Health.
Arroyave went on to say that she is not sure why mattress covers do not have the intended effect, theorizing that it could be because beds are not the main source of dust mite exposure in a household. That, or covers do not lower dust mite levels enough to decrease the allergy symptoms.
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