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Impacts of meteorological and environmental factors on allergic rhinitis in children

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Abstract

Meteorological and environmental factors influence the pathogenesis of allergic rhinitis (AR). An understanding of the risk factors will facilitate the development of diagnostic and preventative tools for AR children and improve their quality of life. However, research on the impact of these factors on subjective symptoms in AR children remains scarce. This study explored the relationships between subjective symptoms in pollen and dust mite positive AR children, and meteorological and environmental factors. Using a linear mixed effect model, we analyzed the correlations between monthly data on the subjective symptoms of 351 AR children (from the Shanghai Children’s Medical Center) and meteorological and environmental factors during 2013. The monthly meteorological and environmental data were provided by the Shanghai Meteorological Service and Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau. Temperature and humidity were negatively correlated with the subjective symptom score, with a 0.04 point increase observed for every 1 °C decrease in temperature (P < 0.0001) or 10 % decline in humidity (P = 0.0412). The particulate matter (PM) 10 and PM2.5 concentrations were positively correlated with the subjective symptom score, with a 10 μg/m3 increase in PM10 and PM2.5 yielding a 0.02 (P = 0.0235) and 0.03 (P = 0.0281) increase in the subjective symptom score, respectively. In conclusion, meteorological and environmental factors were correlated with subjective symptoms in AR children. Low temperatures, lower humidity, and high PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations aggravated subjective symptoms in AR children.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Innovation Fund for Health Science and Technology of the Social Development Bureau of Shanghai Pudong New Area (Project number: PKJ2013-Y60).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Shanghai Children’s Medical Center, affiliated with Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200127, China

    Shan He & Jie Chen

  2. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Children’s Environment and Health, Meteorological Bureau of Shanghai Pudong New Area, Shanghai, 200135, China

    Zhe Mou & Li Peng

Authors
  1. Shan He
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  2. Zhe Mou
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  3. Li Peng
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  4. Jie Chen
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Correspondence to Jie Chen.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Ethics Committee of the Shanghai Children’s Medical Center and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all children’s guardians included in the study.

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He, S., Mou, Z., Peng, L. et al. Impacts of meteorological and environmental factors on allergic rhinitis in children. Int J Biometeorol 61, 797–806 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-016-1257-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-016-1257-1

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