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Climate change and daily outpatient visits for dermatomyositis in Hefei, China: a time-series study

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Abstract

With the deepening of research on the correlation between meteorological factors and autoimmune diseases, the relationship between climate change and dermatomyositis (DM) has come to our attention. This study aimed to explore the short-term correlation between meteorological factors and DM outpatient visits. Daily records of hospital outpatient visits for DM, air pollutants, and meteorological factor data in Hefei from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2021 were obtained. The mean temperature (MT), relative humidity (RH), diurnal temperature range (DTR), and temperature change between neighboring days (TCN) were used to quantify environmental temperature and humidity and their variations. And we performed a time series analysis using a generalized linear model (GLM) in combination with a distributed lag nonlinear model (DLNM). Furthermore, gender and age were further stratified for the analysis. The sensitivity analysis was also performed. A total of 4028 DM outpatient visits were recorded during this period. There were statistically significant associations of low temperature (5th, 1.5 °C), low RH (1st, 48.6%), high RH (99th, 99%), high DTR (75th, 12.6°c), and low TCN (10th, −2.7 °C) that were associated with risk of DM outpatient visits, with lag days of 30, 16, 16, 10, and 14, respectively. Moreover, women were more susceptible to high RH exposure and low TCN exposure, while the elderly were more susceptible to low temperature. This study concluded that exposure to low temperature, extreme RH, and temperature changes (especially high DTR and low TCN) was associated with an increased risk of DM outpatient visits.

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Data availability

The data and material that support the findings of this study are available upon reasonable request.

Abbreviations

DM :

Dermatomyositis

PM 2.5 :

Particulate matter ≤2.5 microns in aerodynamic diameter

PM 10 :

Particulate matter ≤10 microns in aerodynamic diameter

NO 2 :

Nitrogen dioxide

CO :

Carbon monoxide

SO 2 :

Sulfur dioxide

O 3 :

Ozone

MT :

Mean temperature

RH :

Relative humidity

DTR :

Diurnal temperature range

TCN :

Temperature change between neighboring days

WS :

Mean wind speed

GLM :

Generalized linear model

DLNM :

Distributed lag nonlinear model.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate the efforts of all the researchers whose articles were included in this study.

Funding

This study was funded by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82273710, 81872687), the Anhui Provincial Natural Science Foundation (2108085Y26, 2108085QH361), and the Research Fund of Anhui Institute of Translational Medicine (2021zhyx-B04).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Cong Chen, Yi-Sheng He, and Sha-Sha Tao contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, Anhui, 230032, China

    Cong Chen, Yi-Sheng He, Sha-Sha Tao, Yang Fang, Ruo-Di Zhang, Xi Fang, Ling-Qiong Jiang, Yan Zhao, Harry Asena Musonye & Hai-Feng Pan

  2. Institute of Kidney Disease, Inflammation, and Immunity Mediated Diseases, The Second Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, 230601, China

    Cong Chen, Yi-Sheng He, Sha-Sha Tao, Yang Fang, Ruo-Di Zhang, Xi Fang, Ling-Qiong Jiang, Yan Zhao & Hai-Feng Pan

  3. Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, The First Affiliated Hospital of the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230001, China

    Jin-Hui Tao

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  1. Cong Chen
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Hai-Feng Pan and Jin-Hui Tao conceived the present idea and were responsible for the design of the study. Cong Chen performed the statistical analyses and manuscript writing. Yi-Sheng He and Sha-Sha Tao participated in the acquisition of data and data analyses. Harry Asena Musonye, Yang Fang, and Ruo-Di Zhang participated in the modification of English. A literature search was conducted by Xi Fang, Ling-Qiong Jiang, and Yan Zhao. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hai-Feng Pan.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

This study was approved by the Ethical Committee of Anhui Medical University (Hefei, Anhui, China).

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This study did not contain any individual person’s data in any form.

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This study did not contain any individual person’s data in any form).

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Chen, ., He, YS., Tao, SS. et al. Climate change and daily outpatient visits for dermatomyositis in Hefei, China: a time-series study. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 101053–101063 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-29542-1

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