Acute associations between PM2.5 and ozone concentrations and asthma exacerbations among patients with and without allergic comorbidities

• Published in: Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology 2020-09, Vol.30 (5), p.795-804
• Main Authors: Rosenquist, Natalie A., Metcalf, William J., Ryu, So Young, Rutledge, Aida, Coppes, Max J., Grzymski, Joe J., Strickland, Matthew J., Darrow, Lyndsey A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acute effects; Air pollution; Asthma; Comorbidity; Confidence intervals; Crossovers; Electronic health records; Electronic medical records; Emergency medical services; Epidemiology; Medical records; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Nonlinear response; Ozone; Particulate matter; Phenotypes; Pollutants
• ISSN: 1559-0631; 1559-064X
• DOI: 10.1038/s41370-020-0213-7

Acute effects of outdoor air pollution on asthma exacerbations may vary by asthma phenotype (allergic vs nonallergic). Associations of ambient PM 2.5 and ozone concentrations with acute asthma visits (office, urgent, emergency, and hospitalization) were investigated using electronic medical records. International Classification of Disease codes were used to identify asthmatics, and classify them based on the presence or absence of an allergic comorbidity in their medical records. Daily 24-h average PM 2.5 , 8-h maximum ozone, and mean temperature were obtained from a centralized monitor. Using a time-stratified case-crossover approach, pollutant concentrations were modeled using moving averages and distributed lag nonlinear models (lag 0–6) to examine lag associations and nonlinear concentration–response. The adjusted odds ratios for a 10 µg/m 3 increase in 3-day moving average (lag 0–2) PM 2.5 in the two-pollutant models among patients with and without allergic comorbidities were 1.10 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.07, 1.13) and 1.05 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.09), respectively; and for a 20 ppb increase in 3-day moving average (lag 0–2) ozone were 1.08 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.14) and 1.00 (95% CI: 0.95, 1.05), respectively. Estimated odds ratios among patients with allergic comorbidities were consistently higher across age, sex, and temperature categories. Asthmatics with an allergic comorbidity may be more susceptible to ambient PM 2.5 and ozone.