Chinese Journal of Dermatology ›› 2017, Vol. 50 ›› Issue (1): 22-25.

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Association between PM2.5 concentrations and the daily number of outpatient visits for urticaria in Beijing city

  

  • Received:2016-04-11 Revised:2016-08-15 Online:2017-01-15 Published:2017-01-05
  • Contact: Wei Liu E-mail:lwei5811@126.com

Abstract: Wang Qiaowei, Wang Xuying, Li Yonghe, Lyu Hongmei, Pan Xiaochuan, Liu Wei Department of Dermatology, Air Force General Hospital of PLA, Beijing 100142, China (Wang QW, Li YH, Lyu HM, Liu W); Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China (Wang XY, Pan XC) Corresponding author: Liu Wei, Email: lwei5811@126.com 【Abstract】 Objective To investigate the association between concentrations of environmental air pollutants and the daily number of outpatient visits for urticaria in Beijing. Methods Time series analysis in combination with distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM) and Spearman′s rank correlation test was used to analyze the association between PM2.5 concentrations and the daily number of outpatient visits for urticaria. All effect estimates were expressed as a risk ratio (RR) for the daily number of outpatient visits with an interquartile range (IQR) increase of 82.8 μg/m3 in PM2.5. Results From January 1st 2013 to June 30th 2014, the daily average PM2.5 concentration, temperature, relative humidity and number of visits for urticaria were 89.3 μg/m3, 12.7 ℃, 51.9% and 27.3 respectively. Spearman′s rank correlation test showed that the daily average PM2.5 concentration and number of visits for urticaria were correlated with daily mean temperature (rs = -0.21, 0.36, respectively, P < 0.05) and relative humidity (rs = 0.49, 0.31, respectively, P < 0.05), but no correlation was observed between daily average PM2.5 concentrations and daily number of visits for urticaria (rs = 0.01, P > 0.05). There was no significant correlation between daily number of outpatient visits for urticaria and daily PM2.5 concentration lagged by 0 - 14 days (RR = 1, 95% CI: 0.89, 1.13). After potential confounding factors were adjusted, an 82.8 μg/m3 increase in daily PM2.5 concentration at lag 0 - 20 days was significantly associated with a 22% (95% CI: 3%, 46%) increase in daily number of outpatient visits for urticaria, suggesting that the lagged effect of PM2.5 was obviously increased. Conclusion The association between PM2.5 concentrations and the number of visits for urticaria is easily affected by meteorological factors and biological confounding factors, and relative humidity and mean temperature are both positively correlated with the number of visits for urticaria.