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Atmospheric Poaceae pollen frequencies and associations with meteorological parameters in Brisbane, Australia: a 5-year record, 1994–1999

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Abstract

Grass pollen is an important risk factor for allergic rhinitis and asthma in Australia and is the most prevalent pollen component of the aerospora of Brisbane, accounting for 71.6% of the annual airborne pollen load. A 5-year (June 1994–May 1999) monitoring program shows the grass pollen season to occur during the summer and autumn months (December–April), however the timing of onset and intensity of the season vary from year to year. During the pollen season, Poaceae counts exceeding 30 grains m–3 were recorded on 244 days and coincided with maximum temperatures of 28.1 ± 2.0 °C. In this study, statistical associations between atmospheric grass pollen loads and several weather parameters, including maximum temperature, minimum temperature and precipitation, were investigated. Spearman’s correlation analysis demonstrated that daily grass pollen counts were positively associated (P < 0.0001) with maximum and minimum temperature during each sampling year. Precipitation, although considered a less important daily factor (P < 0.05), was observed to remove pollen grains from the atmosphere during significant periods of rainfall. This study provides the first insight into the influence of meteorological variables, in particular temperature, on atmospheric Poaceae pollen counts in Brisbane. An awareness of these associations is critical for the prevention and management of allergy and asthma for atopic individuals within this region.

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Acknowledgements

This research was made possible by financial support from the Asthma Foundation of Queensland. Eija Yli-Panula gratefully acknowledges the Finnish Academy, the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation and the Jalmari and Rauha Ahokas Foundation. Technical assistance provided by the staff of the School of Public Health, Griffith University, and Marisol Guerra Wauters was greatly appreciated. We also thank Dr. Eero Laakkonen, University of Turku, Finland, for independantly evaluating the statistical methods, as well as the Department of Environment and the Bureau of Meteorology for providing the meteorological data. The experiments comply with the current laws of the country in which they were performed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine, Woolcock Allergen Unit, Room 461, Blackburn building D06, The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia 2006

    Brett James Green

  2. Department of Botany, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia Campus, QLD, Australia 4072

    Mary Dettmann

  3. Department of Teacher Education, The University of Turku, Finland

    Eija Yli-Panula

  4. School of Public Health, Griffith University, Logan Campus, QLD, Australia 4131

    Shannon Rutherford

  5. Faculty of Science, The University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, QLD, Australia 4558

    Rod Simpson

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  1. Brett James Green
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  2. Mary Dettmann
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  3. Eija Yli-Panula
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  4. Shannon Rutherford
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  5. Rod Simpson
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Correspondence to Brett James Green.

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Green, B.J., Dettmann, M., Yli-Panula, E. et al. Atmospheric Poaceae pollen frequencies and associations with meteorological parameters in Brisbane, Australia: a 5-year record, 1994–1999. Int J Biometeorol 48, 172–178 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-004-0204-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-004-0204-8

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