4082 The Association Between Pollen Change and Asthma Attacks

Saturday, 17 October 2015
Hall D1 Foyer (Floor 3) (Coex Convention Center)

Soo Yong Roh , Occupational & Environmental Medicine, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea

Jaechul Song, MD , Occupational & Environmental Medicine, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea

Ji-Hoon Lee, MD , Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea

Hogil Kim, MD , Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea

Kyeong Joon Lee , Occupational & Environmental Medicine, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea

Jae Young Kim , Occupational & Environmental Medicine, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea

Soo Yong Roh , Occupational & Environmental Medicine, Hanyang University, Seoul, South Africa

(1) Introduction
There are pollen, temperature, air pollutants and other occupational factors as representative risk factors of allergic diseases. Among them, Pollen is an important role in the pathogenesis of asthma. Depending on global warming and climate change, recently changes in pollen is appeared. This study purpose is to survey the change of asthma from 2006 to 2010, to evaluate the relation between pollen and asthma attack and to compare the influence between Seong-Dong gu, Seoul as representative urban area, Guri, Gyungggido as suburban area, and Jeju as rural area.
(2) Method
We utilized a national health insurance data, meteorological data, air pollution data, and the pollen data of the National Weather Service from 2006 to 2010. Target area were Seong-dong gu which is one of 25 districts in Seoul, the capital of Korea, Guri which is similar to seong-dong gu in aspect of latitude and longitude, but is suburban area, and Jeju which is different to two areas of the front in aspect of latitude, is island, and is rural area. We considered The number of asthma attacks as the dependent variable. Asthma attack was defined if the case in that the oral steroid was used to treat asthma attacks was confirmed. In order to distinguish pediatric asthma, we restricted age range from age 18 to 70 years. Independent variables are meteorological variables(Tmax, Tmean, Tmin, precipitation, humidity, DTR(Diurnal Temperature Range), Wind velocity), Pollen data(The count of grass, ragweed, wormwood, Japanese hop, alder, birch, hazelnut and oak) and air pollutants data(atmospheric concentration of NO2, CO, SO2, PM10, O3. Statistical researches including time-series analysis, case-crossover design were performed.
(3) Result
Tree and ragweed pollen were associated with asthma attack; the largest magnitudes of association was with the 5-day average(RRIQR¼ 1.15, 95%CI 1.10–1.20). Grass pollen was only minimally associated with the outcome. The associations with ozone and PM10 were strongest on the same day (lag0) of asthma attack(RRIQR¼ 1.05, 95%CI 1.03–1.07 and RRIQR¼ 1.03, 95%CI 1.01–1.05), respectively, with a decreasing lag effect.
(4) Conclusion
The different pollen types showed different associations with the outcome. High levels of tree pollen appear to be an important risk factor in asthma exacerbations.
Geographically, there are differences in association between their risk factors and asthma attacks.