The following is a summary of “Exposure to air pollution and incidence of atopic dermatitis in the general population: A national population-based retrospective cohort study,” published in the DECEMBER 2022 issue of Dermatology by Park, et al.
The possibility that air contaminants, such as gases and particulate matter, might induce atopic dermatitis (AD) had recently received minimal research. Therefore, using the National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort database, researchers sought to assess the connection between air contaminants and the incidence of AD for a study.
Between 2008 and 2013, they included 209,168 people from the general community who had not yet received an AD diagnosis. Prior to diagnosis, the average long-term concentration of air contaminants was assessed for each participant.
About 3,203 patients had incident AD cases during the course of 1,030,324 person-years. Incidence of AD was significantly positively correlated with long-term average concentrations of particulate matter smaller than 2.5 μm in diameter (hazard ratio [HR], 1.420; 95% CI, 1.392-1.448; for 1 μg/m3), particulate matter smaller than 10 μm in diameter (HR, 1.333, 95% CI, 1.325-1.341; for 1 μg/m3), sulfur dioxide (HR, 1.626; 95% CI, 1.559-1.695; for 1 parts per billion), nitrogen dioxide (HR, 1.200; 95% CI, 1.187-1.212; for 1 parts per billion), and carbon monoxide (HR, 1.005; 95% CI, 1.004-1.005; for 1 parts per billion) after adjusting for age, sex, income, comorbid diseases, and meteorologic variables.
The study established a causal link between chronic exposure to air contaminants, such as gases and particulate matter, and the development of AD.
Reference: jaad.org/article/S0190-9622(21)02066-1/fulltext
