Environmental Exposure and Childhood Atopic Dermatitis in Shanghai: A Season-Stratified Time-Series Analysis

Dermatology ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Yabin Hu ◽  
Fan Jiang ◽  
Jianguo Tan ◽  
Shijian Liu ◽  
Shenghui Li ◽  
...  

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Childhood atopic dermatitis (AD) is an inflammatory skin disease which sometimes predisposes to allergies. Environmental factors (low humidity, irritants, etc.) are prominent causative triggers of AD. <b><i>Objectives:</i></b> This study aims to explore the effects of both meteorological factors and air pollutants on childhood AD, and the modification effects by season in Shanghai, China. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Quasi-Poisson generalized linear regression model, combined with a distributed lag nonlinear model was used to examine the nonlinear and lagged effects of environmental factors on childhood AD from 2009 to 2017 in Shanghai. We also performed a season-stratified analysis to determine the modification effects of environmental exposure by season on childhood AD. <b><i>Results:</i></b> There were 1,043,240 outpatient visits for childhood AD in total, at 3 major pediatric hospitals. Low temperature and relative humidity (RH), and high daily temperature difference (DTD) and air pollutants (i.e., NO<sub>2</sub>) increased the relative risks (RRs) of outpatient visits for childhood AD in the whole year. In the cold season, an increased risk of outpatient visits for childhood AD was associated with low RH (RR 2.26, 95% CI 1.69–3.02) and high NO<sub>2</sub> (1.11, 95% CI 1.06–1.17). In the warm season, outpatient visits for childhood AD were associated with low temperature (3.49, 95% CI 3.22–3.77), low RH (1.89, 95% CI 1.74–2.06), high DTD (1.41, 95% CI 1.31–1.53), and high NO<sub>2</sub> (1.05, 95% CI 1.03–1.06). <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> This study suggests that environmental exposure may be a key trigger for outpatient visits for childhood AD with apparent seasonal effects. Tailored preventive strategies to avoid environmental triggers of childhood AD should be developed.

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nobukazu Sasaki ◽  
Yuji Aoki

Hyponatremia is a common but important electrolyte disorder mostly complicated with other diseases. Recently, we experienced a case of a hypertensive patient in her seventies taking a thiazide diuretic, who presented with disorientation due to severe hyponatremia (serum sodium level, 104 mmol/l) on admission. Taking this opportunity, patients with profound hyponatremia (<125 mmol/l) on admission were investigated. Patients newly admitted to Matsumoto Medical Center (an acute hospital) were surveyed retrospectively for one year from May 1, 2016 to April 30, 2017. Patients with profound hyponatremia on admission were selected, and their clinical characteristics were evaluated. A total of 108 out of 4223 patients (2.6%; 67 men, 41 women) showed profound hyponatremia, and 101 out of 108 patients were 65 years old and over. The prevalence of profound hyponatremia in the warm season of April to October (3.1%, 76 in 2444 patients) was significantly ( p = 0.002, χ2 test) higher than that in the cold season of November to March (1.8%, 32 in 1779 patients). The monthly prevalence tended to correlate with the monthly average temperature of the local area ( r = 0.517, p = 0.085). There were six patients treated with thiazide diuretics in the warm season, while there were no such patients in the cold season, not reaching a significant difference ( p = 0.240). The present study demonstrated an increased risk of hyponatremia in elderly patients during the warm season. Considering also the relevant literature, health professionals should pay enough attention to thiazide- or drug-induced hyponatremia and the impact of water/salt intake for heat exposure.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillem Hurault ◽  
Valentin Delorieux ◽  
Young-Min Kim ◽  
Kangmo Ahn ◽  
Hywel C. Williams ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTBackgroundAtopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that affects 20% of children worldwide. Although environmental factors including weather and air pollutants have been shown to be associated with AD symptoms, the time-dependent nature of such a relationship has not been adequately investigated.ObjectiveThis paper aims to assess the short-term impact of weather and air pollutants on AD severity scores.MethodsUsing longitudinal data from a published panel study of 177 paediatric patients followed up for 17 months, we developed statistical machine learning models to predict daily AD severity scores for individual study participants. Exposures consisted of daily meteorological variables and concentrations of air pollutants and outcomes were daily recordings of scores for six AD signs. We developed a mixed effect autoregressive ordinal logistic regression model, validated it in a forward-chaining setting, and evaluated the effects of the environmental factors on the predictive performance.ResultsOur model outperformed benchmark models for daily prediction of the AD severity scores. The predictive performance of AD severity scores was not improved by the addition of measured environmental factors. Any potential short-term influence of environmental exposures on AD severity scores was outweighed by the underlying persistence of preceding scores.ConclusionsOur data does not offer enough evidence to support a claim that AD symptoms are associated with weather or air pollutants on a short-term basis. Inferences about the magnitude of the effect of environmental factors require consideration of the time-dependence of the AD severity scores.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Bérénice Dégboé ◽  
Félix Atadokpèdé ◽  
Christabelle Nguessie ◽  
Alida Kouassi ◽  
Nadège Elégbédé ◽  
...  

Introduction. The objective of this work was to document the comorbidities and environmental factors associated with atopic dermatitis (AD) in dermatology Venereology in Cotonou. Methods. A cross-sectional, prospective, and analytical study included, from January 2016 to December 2018, in the Dermatology-Venereology Department of the National Teaching Hospital Hubert Koutoukou Maga (CNHU-HKM) of Cotonou, children and adults after free and informed consent, in whom the diagnosis of AD was retained according to the criteria of the United Kingdom Working Party. Severity was assessed using SCORAD (severity scoring of atopic dermatitis). Results. The overall prevalence of AD was 7.7%. AD was more frequent in children (56.8% and 40.6%) and adults (59.8% and 37.4%) from urban and periurban areas (0.003 <  p < 0.034 ). It was more frequent in children who regularly dewormed and those with complete vaccination (0.001 <  p < 0.01 ). In 54.8% of children and 58.9% of adults, flare-ups occurred during the warm season. The main associated comorbidities were rhinitis and conjunctivitis in both children (49.7% and 36.1%, respectively) and adults (32.7% and 26.2%, respectively). The main triggering factors in children were heat (43.2%), pneumallergens (28.4%), and skin irritants (22.6%). In adults, we noted skin irritants (58.9%), heat (47.7%), and psychological factors (34.6%). In adults, the use of detergent soaps was associated with lichenified and severe AD (0.003 <  p < 0.006 ) and that of lightening soaps with acute AD ( p = 0.042 ). Conclusion. AD in the Dermatology-Venereology Department of the CNHU-HKM of Cotonou was associated with comorbidities. It was influenced by environmental factors related to the tropical climate and by skin irritants or allergens.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin-Qiang Wang ◽  
Ying-Qing Li ◽  
Cheng-Yang Hu ◽  
Kai Huang ◽  
Kun Ding ◽  
...  

Abstract There is growing evidence that air pollution plays a role in TB, but few studies have comprehensively included the six common air pollutants. Our objectives were to investigate the association between short-term exposure to six common air pollutants and the risk of tuberculosis outpatient visits in Fuyang, China, during the period 2015-2020. We combined the two models to explore the effects of exposure to six air pollutants on the risk of tuberculosis outpatient visits, including Poisson generalized linear regression model and distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM). We performed stratified analyses for season, gender and age. We used the lag-specific relative risks and cumulative relative risk obtained by increasing pollutant concentration by per 10 units to evaluate the connection between six air pollutants and TB, PM2.5 (RR=1.0018, 95%CI: 1.0004-1.0032, delay of 12 days) and (RR=1.0169,95%CI: 1.0007-1.0333, lag 0-16 days), SO2 were 0.9549 (95%CI: 0.9389-0.9712, lag 0 days) and 0.8212 (95%CI: 0.7351-0.9173, 0-20 days lag). Stratified analyses showed that seasonal differences had a greater impact on TB, and male more likely to develop TB than female, older people more likely to develop TB than younger people. Exposure to O3, CO, PM10, PM2.5, and NO2 increases the risk of TB outpatient visits, except SO2 reduces the risk. Male and elderly people should be protected. We need to pay more attention to the impact of seasonal effects on TB.


Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 2761
Author(s):  
Limin Yang ◽  
Miori Sato ◽  
Mayako Saito-Abe ◽  
Minaho Nishizato ◽  
Hidetoshi Mezawa ◽  
...  

Vitamin D (VitD) may affect immune system modulation and result in the development of atopic dermatitis (AD). However, published findings have remained controversial. We investigated the association between early-life 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels and AD risk at childhood with a birth cohort. The data were obtained from “the Japan Environment and Children’s Study (JECS)” and “the Sub-Cohort study of JECS” performed with children aged 2 years. “Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry” was used to measure VitD. The information on AD was obtained from parents’ answers to a questionnaire when their children were aged 3 years. In order to explain the seasonal effects on VitD levels, a deseasonalized continuous variable was further calculated. The logistic regression models were fitted to evaluate the effect of VitD on childhood AD. The study included 4378 children with complete data on VitD and AD. The results from models indicated that low VitD at 2 years was not a risk factor for the development of AD at 3 years, after adjusting for potential confounders. Moreover, there was no U-shape relationship between deseasonalized VitD and childhood AD. Overall, early-life 25(OH)D levels were not link to the increased risk of developing childhood AD.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hengliang Guo ◽  
Mengfei Wang ◽  
Haitao Wei ◽  
Xiyun Gong ◽  
Hong Yang

Abstract Background: Previous studies have shown that air pollution has a great impact on cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases (CCD), but there is a lack of research on low and medium pollution areas. This study was the first time to explore the effects of air pollutants on the outpatient visits of CCD in Luoyang, which is located in low and medium pollution areas.Methods: In this study, the Generalized Additive Model (GAM) was used to establish a single pollutant model, a multi-pollutant model and stratified modes of age, sex and season to evaluate the effects of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, CO and O3 on the outpatient visits of CCD within a week.Results: The results of single pollutant model showed that PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, CO and O3 all had significant effects on the outpatient visits of CCD with a lag effect, interquartile range (IQR) increased in their concentration, the outpatient visits with CCD increased by 2.8%(95%CI:1.7%-4.0%), 3.0%(95%CI:1.8%-4.1%), -4.2% (95%CI: -5.5%- -2.9%), 20.5%(95%CI:18.2%-22.7%), 10.4%(95%CI:8.8%-12.1%), 2.3%(95%CI:0.8%-3.9%). The multi-pollutant model showed that there may be complex interactions among pollutants. The results of stratified model showed that there was no significant difference in the effects of different pollutants on different genders and ages, and the results of seasonal stratification showed that PM2.5, PM10, SO2 and CO had a greater influence on the outpatient visits of CCD in spring and summer, while NO2 and O3 had a greater influence on the outpatient visits of CCD in autumn and winter.Conclusion: The results showed that air pollutants significantly affected the outpatient visits of CCD, among which NO2 had the greatest influence, and seasonal effects and the combined effects of various pollutants should be considered in the prevention of CCD.


PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e11397
Author(s):  
Xiaoguang Li ◽  
Jie Xu ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
Jing-Jin Liang ◽  
Zhong-Hua Deng ◽  
...  

Background Air pollution leads to many adverse health conditions, mainly manifested by respiratory or cardiac symptoms. Previous studies are limited as to whether air pollutants were associated to influenza-like illness (ILI). This study aimed to explore the association between air pollutants and outpatient visits for ILI, especially during an outbreak of influenza. Methods Daily counts of hospital visits for ILI were obtained from Peking University Third Hospital between January 1, 2015, and March 31, 2018. A generalized additive Poisson model was applied to examine the associations between air pollutants concentrations and daily outpatient visits for ILI when adjusted for the meteorological parameters. Results There were 35862 outpatient visits at the fever clinic for ILI cases. Air quality index (AQI), PM2.5, PM10, CO and O3 on lag0 days, as well as nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) on lag1 days, were significantly associated with an increased risk of outpatient visits for ILI from January 2015 to November 2017. From December 2017 to March 2018, on lag0 days, air pollutants PM2.5 [risk ratio (RR) = 0.971, 95% CI: 0.963-0.979], SO2 (RR = 0.892, 95% CI: 0.840–0.948) and CO (RR = 0.306, 95% CI: 0.153–0.612) were significantly associated with a decreased risk of outpatient visits for ILI. Interestingly, on the lag2 days, all the pollutants were significantly associated with a reduced risk of outpatient visits for ILI except for O3. We did not observe the linear correlations between the outpatient visits for ILI and any of air pollutants, which were instead associated via a curvilinear relationship. Conclusions We found that the air pollutants may be associated with an increased risk of outpatient visits for ILI during the non-outbreak period and with a decreased risk during the outbreak period, which may be linked with the use of disposable face masks and the change of outdoor activities. These findings expand the current knowledge of ILI outpatient visits correlated with air pollutants during an influenza pandemic.


Author(s):  
Qiwei Yu ◽  
Liqiang Zhang ◽  
Kun Hou ◽  
Jingwen Li ◽  
Suhong Liu ◽  
...  

Exposure to air pollution has been suggested to be associated with an increased risk of women’s health disorders. However, it remains unknown to what extent changes in ambient air pollution affect gynecological cancer. In our case–control study, the logistic regression model was combined with the restricted cubic spline to examine the association of short-term exposure to air pollution with gynecological cancer events using the clinical data of 35,989 women in Beijing from December 2008 to December 2017. We assessed the women’s exposure to air pollutants using the monitor located nearest to each woman’s residence and working places, adjusting for age, occupation, ambient temperature, and ambient humidity. The adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were examined to evaluate gynecologic cancer risk in six time windows (Phase 1–Phase 6) of women’s exposure to air pollutants (PM2.5, CO, O3, and SO2) and the highest ORs were found in Phase 4 (240 days). Then, the higher adjusted ORs were found associated with the increased concentrations of each pollutant (PM2.5, CO, O3, and SO2) in Phase 4. For instance, the adjusted OR of gynecological cancer risk for a 1.0-mg m−3 increase in CO exposures was 1.010 (95% CI: 0.881–1.139) below 0.8 mg m−3, 1.032 (95% CI: 0.871–1.194) at 0.8–1.0 mg m−3, 1.059 (95% CI: 0.973–1.145) at 1.0–1.4 mg m−3, and 1.120 (95% CI: 0.993–1.246) above 1.4 mg m−3. The ORs calculated in different air pollution levels accessed us to identify the nonlinear association between women’s exposure to air pollutants (PM2.5, CO, O3, and SO2) and the gynecological cancer risk. This study supports that the gynecologic risks associated with air pollution should be considered in improved public health preventive measures and policymaking to minimize the dangerous effects of air pollution.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 1884
Author(s):  
Jingjing Hu ◽  
Yansong Bao ◽  
Jian Liu ◽  
Hui Liu ◽  
George P. Petropoulos ◽  
...  

The acquisition of real-time temperature and relative humidity (RH) profiles in the Arctic is of great significance for the study of the Arctic’s climate and Arctic scientific research. However, the operational algorithm of Fengyun-3D only takes into account areas within 60°N, the innovation of this work is that a new technique based on Neural Network (NN) algorithm was proposed, which can retrieve these parameters in real time from the Fengyun-3D Hyperspectral Infrared Radiation Atmospheric Sounding (HIRAS) observations in the Arctic region. Considering the difficulty of obtaining a large amount of actual observation (such as radiosonde) in the Arctic region, collocated ERA5 data from European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and HIRAS observations were used to train the neural networks (NNs). Brightness temperature and training targets were classified using two variables: season (warm season and cold season) and surface type (ocean and land). NNs-based retrievals were compared with ERA5 data and radiosonde observations (RAOBs) independent of the NN training sets. Results showed that (1) the NNs retrievals accuracy is generally higher on warm season and ocean; (2) the root-mean-square error (RMSE) of retrieved profiles is generally slightly higher in the RAOB comparisons than in the ERA5 comparisons, but the variation trend of errors with height is consistent; (3) the retrieved profiles by the NN method are closer to ERA5, comparing with the AIRS products. All the results demonstrated the potential value in time and space of NN algorithm in retrieving temperature and relative humidity profiles of the Arctic region from HIRAS observations under clear-sky conditions. As such, the proposed NN algorithm provides a valuable pathway for retrieving reliably temperature and RH profiles from HIRAS observations in the Arctic region, providing information of practical value in a wide spectrum of practical applications and research investigations alike.All in all, our work has important implications in broadening Fengyun-3D’s operational implementation range from within 60°N to the Arctic region.


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