Electric stoves may ease asthma symptoms

In a Cleveland study, people with poorly controlled asthma who moved from a gas stove to an electric one reported symptom relief roughly two to three times greater than the benefit usually seen with medication. The same participants also reported fewer emergency-room visits and less missed work or school.

Symptom improvement

A 38-year-old woman told the researchers her throat felt as if it was closing whenever she cooked on the gas stove. The feeling stopped after she switched to electric. A 36-year-old man, who had trouble walking uphill and playing with his children, said he felt much better after the swap. He called it “magical.”

Pulmonologist Laura Paulin of Dartmouth Health recommends cutting exposure without a full swap. She suggests kitchen ventilation, such as an exhaust hood that vents outside or an open window, and a HEPA filter with a carbon insert. She also advises keeping children with asthma out of the kitchen when the stove is on. Clinician Ashwini Sehgal suggests a trial run with an electric hot plate and a toaster oven, to see whether keeping the gas stove off helps.

Researchers plan to measure lung function before and after a stove switch. They also plan a randomized trial, in which some families would get an electric stove right away while others wait six months. If electric stoves continue to be linked with fewer emergency room visits and better symptom control than medication, Sehgal says health insurance companies “should consider paying for or subsidizing” the swap.