Objectives: Studies are needed to examine the characteristics of health effects reported by people who used humidifier disinfectant (HD), including the distribution of victims.
Methods: We analyzed the distribution of health effects including lung injury that were asserted by a total of 699 individuals who registered with the first through third national programs to determine health effects associated with the use of HD.
Results: We found that HD-associated lung injury (HDLI) occurred every year from 2002 through 2011, and in 2011 for 37.2% (n=96) of the total of 258 clinically evaluated HDLI victims. More than half of the victims responded that they were victimized between 2010 and 2011. This was consistent among all classifications by sex, age, HD brand and HD chemical ingredient.
Conclusion: This study assumed that the major reason for the outbreak of the health effect between 2010 and 2011 could be the variations in concentrations and physical properties related to polyhexamethylene guanidine (PHMG). Further studies are necessary to examine if some factors related to the chemical disinfectants contained in HD brands may have caused the massive outbreak of health effects including HDLI.

KeywordsCMIT,humidifier disinfectant (HD),humidifier disinfectant-associated lung injury (HDLI), MIT,PGH,PHMG