The Association between Ambient Air Pollution and Allergic Rhinitis: Further Epidemiological Evidence from Changchun, Northeastern China

Bo Teng, Xuelei Zhang, Chunhui Yi, Yan Zhang, Shufeng Ye, Yafang Wang, Daniel Q. Tong and Binfeng Lu
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Bo Teng: Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, The Second Hospital, Jilin University, Changchun, 130041, China
Xuelei Zhang: Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130102, China
Chunhui Yi: Department of Pathology, Mount Sinai West, New York City, NY 10019, USA
Yan Zhang: Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, The First Hospital, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China
Shufeng Ye: Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, The Second Hospital, Jilin University, Changchun, 130041, China
Yafang Wang: Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, The Second Hospital, Jilin University, Changchun, 130041, China
Daniel Q. Tong: Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
Binfeng Lu: Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, The Second Hospital, Jilin University, Changchun, 130041, China

IJERPH, 2017, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-18

Abstract: With the continuous rapid urbanization process over the last three decades, outdoors air pollution has become a progressively more serious public health hazard in China. To investigate the possible associations, lag effects and seasonal differences of urban air quality on respiratory health (allergic rhinitis) in Changchun, a city in Northeastern China, we carried out a time-series analysis of the incidents of allergic rhinitis (AR) from 2013 to 2015. Environmental monitoring showed that PM 2.5 and PM 10 were the major air pollutants in Changchun, followed by SO 2 , NO 2 and O 3 . The results also demonstrated that the daily concentrations of air pollutants had obvious seasonal differences. PM 10 had higher daily mean concentrations in spring (May, dust storms), autumn (October, straw burning) and winter (November to April, coal burning). The mean daily number of outpatient AR visits in the warm season was higher than in the cold season. The prevalence of allergic rhinitis was significantly associated with PM 2.5 , PM 10 , SO 2 and NO 2 , and the increased mobility was 10.2% (95% CI, 5.5%–15.1%), 4.9% (95% CI, 0.8%–9.2%), 8.5% (95% CI, ?1.8%–19.8%) and 11.1% (95% CI, 5.8%–16.5%) for exposure to each 1-Standard Deviation (1-SD) increase of pollutant, respectively. Weakly or no significant associations were observed for CO and O 3 . As for lag effects, the highest Relative Risks (RRs) of AR from SO 2 , NO 2 , PM 10 and PM 2.5 were on the same day, and the highest RR from CO was on day 4 (L4). The results also indicated that the concentration of air pollutants might contribute to the development of AR. To summarize, this study provides further evidence of the significant association between ambient particulate pollutants (PM 2.5 and PM 10 , which are usually present in high concentrations) and the prevalence of respiratory effects (allergic rhinitis) in the city of Changchun, located in Northeastern China. Environmental control and public health strategies should be enforced to address this increasingly challenging problem.

Keywords: air pollution; allergic rhinitis; significant association; seasonal effect; lag effects; Changchun (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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