As an emergency physician in Chicago, I have seen too often when asthma stops being something a patient can manage at home and becomes a medical emergency. Asthma attacks can mean missed school, missed work, frightened families, emergency department visits, hospitalization and death.
We invest enormous resources in treating asthma. However, we should be as committed to understanding and preventing environmental exposures that worsen it.
That is why published research on gas stoves and asthma deserves attention and why the government’s decision to cut a study short should concern anyone who cares about wellness and cost of healthcare.
Researchers at Case Western Reserve and MetroHealth received federal funding to study patients with poorly controlled asthma by replacing gas stoves with induction stoves. The original study was designed to include 1,200 households, but funding was terminated before researchers reached that goal.
Even so, the smaller study produced striking results. Participants experienced fewer asthma symptoms and a 70% reduction in emergency department visits, along with fewer missed days of school and work. In homes where indoor air quality was measured, kitchen nitrogen dioxide levels, which worsens asthma, also fell dramatically.
As a physician, I believe the appropriate response is clear: Study these findings further.
I have approached this issue personally, too. My family and I have worked to electrify our Chicago home. I once believed gas cooking was indispensable, but when we monitored our indoor air quality, we could see the impact gas cooking had, even with a high-powered ventilation hood. After switching to induction, our indoor air quality improved.
Of course, one household is not evidence. That is exactly why research matters.
Families deserve reliable information about the air they breathe. Physicians need evidence about environmental contributors to disease. Policymakers need data to determine which interventions improve health and reduce healthcare costs.
Cleaner indoor air cannot become a benefit available only to families who can afford appliance upgrades. Many people rent or live in homes requiring electrical work.
The debate over gas stoves has become politicized. But this should be simple: When credible evidence suggests a common, preventable exposure may worsen a serious chronic disease, we should investigate it thoroughly.
Canceling research does not eliminate risk. It leaves patients, physicians and families with fewer answers.