Infant Swimming: Chlorine Lung Risk?

Infant swimming lessons may lead to problems with children's
lung development and possibly make asthma more likely, a new study
suggests.

The researchers included Alfred Bernard, PhD, of the public health
department at Catholic University of Louvain in Brussels, Belgium.

They studied 341 Belgian schoolchildren who were about 11 years old, on
average. The children provided blood samples and had their lung health
tested.

Bernard's team noted that 43 of the children had taken infant swimming
lessons in indoor pools. The researchers also noted other lung health hazards,
including maternal smoking during pregnancy and exposure to secondhand
smoke.

The lungs of children who had had infant swimming lessons appeared to be
predisposed to developing asthma and recurrent bronchitis, according to the
study, which appears in Pediatrics.

The study doesn't prove that infant swimming caused those lung problems. But
the researchers suggest that chlorine-related gases in indoor pools may have
been a factor.

Bernard's team doesn't know how much chlorine was in the pools in which the
children had their infant swimming lessons since the study was conducted when
the kids were already 11 years old on average.

However, the researchers speculate that chlorine-related gases may cause
lung irritation that's particularly damaging to infants' lungs, which are still
developing.

Bernard and colleagues also note that the American Academy of Pediatrics
(AAP) states that children generally aren't ready for formal swimming lessons
until they're at least 4 years old and that infant swimming lessons may give
parents a false sense of security about their children's water safety, since
infant swimming lessons haven't been proven to reduce drowning risk.

The AAP's stance on infant swimming lessons doesn't address any potential
risks fromB chlorine or chlorine-related gases.

The Belgian researchers didn't reach any conclusions about lung risks for
babies swimming in outdoor pools due to the small number of children with
backyard pools.

Bernard and colleagues call for more studies on the effects of chlorine
products on the respiratory tract of very young children.

By Miranda Hitti
Reviewed by Louise Chang
B)2005-2006 WebMD, Inc. All rights reserved