Abstract
Epidemiological studies have revealed associations between several temperature parameters and allergic rhinitis (AR). However, few studies have reported the association of AR with daily temperature variability, which indicates both short-term intra- and interday temperature changes. This study aimed to analyze associations between temperature variability and initial outpatient visits for AR. The analysis was conducted with an over-dispersed Poisson model using daily time-series data on temperature and the number of initial AR outpatients from 2013 to 2015 in Changchun, China. The composite index of temperature variability was derived by calculating the standard deviation of daily minimum temperature and maximum temperature over exposure days. Stratified analysis by season was also conducted. There were 23,344 AR outpatients during the study period. In the total period, per 1 °C increase in temperature variability at 0–2 days (TV0–2), 0–3 days (TV0–3), and 0–4 days (TV0–4) was associated with a 4.03% (95% CI: 0.91–7.25%), 4.40% (95% CI: 0.95–7.97%), and 4.12% (95% CI: 0.38–8.01%) increase in the number of AR outpatients, respectively. When stratified by season, the strongest effect was shown in spring. Our results suggested that temperature variability was associated with increased initial outpatient visits for AR, which may provide helpful implications for formulating public health policies to reduce adverse health impacts of unstable temperature.
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Data availability
The data supporting the findings of our study are available on request from the corresponding author Li Ke.
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Acknowledgements
We appreciate the statistical guidance obtained from Professor Ping Yin, Professor Songlin Yu, and Associate Professor Yaohua Tian from the School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
Funding
The study was supported by the 2021 Scientific Research Foundation for Ph.D of Hubei University of Chinese Medicine.
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LK determined the ideas about the association between temperature variability and AR outpatients; MX and PK wrote the original draft; MX and JH developed the model for the association of temperature variability with AR outpatients, and conducted the formal analysis; MX and JH implemented the computer code; BL, LK, and PH reviewed and revised the manuscript.
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The number of outpatients for AR symptom in this study was derived from the archived data in previous clinical diagnosis and treatment from the Departments of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery from the first and second affiliated hospitals of Jilin University. The data were at the group level and did not involve individual-level information, which could be exempted from informed consent and ethical review.
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Xu, M., Ke, P., Chen, R. et al. Association of temperature variability with the risk of initial outpatient visits for allergic rhinitis: a time-series study in Changchun. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 27222–27231 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-18206-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-18206-7