Is there any good data that proves that home air purifiers actually make you healthier?
Many home air purifiers make claims about efficiency and the benefits they offer you and your family, but what does the science say? In Theory and in laboratory testing a good air purifier should improve a rooms pollution level more than 80%, this 80% reduction is also what the private Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) uses in their clean air delivery rate (CADR) tests. The down fall of CADR is that it is all laboratory based 20 minute trial, it is not real world.
I want to show proof in a real world example that using an IQAir purifier in home will improve your health.
In 2002 a published systematic review, found that air filters helped to improve asthma symptoms but the effect size was small. A more recent, very well designed study published in Pediatrics in 2011 followed two hundred children with asthma who also were exposed to secondhand smoke at home, and gave half of the kids a true HEPA purifier and the other half a fake purifier for their bedrooms. After a year, the HEPA group of children had significantly less doctor visits for asthma flares, which was most likely due to the 25% decrease in PM2.5 in their homes. Another study back in 1990 was a bit more impressive, showing not only a 70% reduction in indoor PM0.3 but also improved patient symptoms of allergies.
The best study I found was published in January 2013 in Indoor Air. It was very well designed for this complicated type of study, being a randomized double-blind crossover study of 20 homes over three weeks, using an air purifier or a placebo purifier. Their main goal in this remote First Nations community in Canada was to assess whether air purifiers could improve cardio respiratory health. As their abstract says,
“…each home received an air purifier and a placebo air purifier for 1 week in random order, and lung function, blood pressure, and endothelial function measures were collected at the beginning and end of each week… On average, air filter use was associated with a 217-ml increase in forced expiratory volume in 1 second, a 7.9-mm Hg decrease in systolic blood pressure, and a 4.5-mm Hg decrease in diastolic blood pressure. Consistent inverse associations were also observed between indoor PM2.5 and lung function. In general, our findings suggest that reducing indoor PM2.5 may contribute to improved lung function in First Nations communities.”
Can this be the proof? Firstly, they all confirm what we already know: air purifiers can reduce the levels of indoor PM2.5, but with a wide range of effectiveness. Secondly are the more important results looking at health markers. I think the most encouraging finding was the First Nation study showing improvement in lung function, even in such a short amount of time (less than a month).
Lets consider some other things we already know;
In order to extract 420 litres of oxygen that is crucial for human survival and function, a total of 10,000 litres of air enters the lungs every day. The quality of air we breathe determines the health of the lungs as well as other organs. New WHO data further reveals a stronger link between, indoor and outdoor air pollution exposure and cardiovascular diseases, such as strokes and ischemic heart disease, as well as between air pollution and cancer. The role of air pollution in the development of respiratory diseases, including acute respiratory infections and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, is well known. Clean air is considered to be a basic requirement of human health and well-being.
So taking the evidence we see in the studies and the knowledge we have about the effects of pollution and PM2.5 particles on our health I think we can conclude that Yes using an effective in home air purifier will greatly improve our families health.
IQAir have been making the air we breathe cleaner for 60 years, they first saw the benefits of clean air when wood burning stoves were far more common in homes across Europe, since then they have continued to manufacture air purifiers that offer the best possible performance on the market. The IQAir HealthPro units are second to none, they offer the largest room coverage, the quietest operating fans and the longest filter life of any home air purifier on the market. There are no gimmicks, all the technology is tried and true and Filtercorp Health stands behind these products 100%.
IQAir HealthPro Series
There are two main models of IQAir HealthPro units, the HealthPro 100 and the HealthPro 250. The main difference between the two is that the latter offers a gas phase filter to remove any airborne volatile organic compounds or odours. Both units will offer up to 4 air changes in a 85m2 room every hour with filter life spanning from a minimum of 12 months up to an incredible 48 months.
HealthPro 100
- 2 Stage filtration.
- PreMax F8 (12 - 18 mths filter life).
- HyperHEPA Filter H12/13 (36 - 48 mths filter life).
- Suitable for rooms up to 90m2.
- Up to 470m3/hr air delivery.
HealthPro 250
- 3 Stage filtration.
- PreMax F8 (12 - 18 mths filter life).
- V5 Cell MG Filter (15-21 mths filter life).
- HyperHEPA Filter H12/13 (36 - 48 mths filter life).
- Suitable for rooms up to 85m2.
- Up to 400m3/hr air delivery.
In addition to quality manufacturing of the HealthPro units, IQAir also test the units as they come off the assembly line by hand, each unit is given a Certificate of Performance which is hand signed showing the actual air delivery rates of the unit. IQAir goes one step further than this and guarantees that each HealthPro unit has a total system efficiency of ≥99.97% @ ≥0.3µm, to put that in to context, most units will claim certain efficiencies on the box and this often refers to the efficiency of the filter itself not the unit as an entire system. Again IQAir will guarantee their HealthPro units will have a total system efficiency of ≥99.97% @ ≥0.3µm, only 0.3% of particles greater than 0.3µm will make is past the filters in the IQAir HealthPro systems. No other unit on the market can make that claim!
IQAir demonstrate the trust they have in their HealthPro Systems below
If someone in your family is immuno-compromised, has respiratory illness such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or has severe allergies contact us today. We can discuss the options available to you to take control of the air you breathe, we are happy to visit in home, office or discuss over the phone.
References
Enhancing indoor air quality –The air filter advantage
Vannan Kandi Vijayan, Haralappa Paramesh, Sundeep Santosh Salvi, and Alpa Anil Kumar Dalal. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4587002/
Effect of air filtration systems on asthma: a systematic review of randomized trials.
McDonald E1, Cook D, Newman T, Griffith L, Cox G, Guyatt G.
Effects of HEPA Air Cleaners on Unscheduled Asthma Visits and Asthma Symptoms for Children Exposed to Secondhand Tobacco Smoke
Bruce P. Lanphear, MD, MPH, Richard W. Hornung, DrPH, [...], and Amy Kalkbrenner, PhD
A double-blind study of the effectiveness of a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter in the treatment of patients with perennial allergic rhinitis and asthma.
Reisman RE1, Mauriello PM, Davis GB, Georgitis JW, DeMasi JM.
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