Environmental and Air Pollution Factors Affecting Allergic Eye Disease in Children and Adolescents in India.

Anthony Vipin Das,Sayan Basu

doi:10.3390/ijerph18115611

Abstract

The aim of this study was to describe the correlation between the meteorological and air pollution parameters with the temporal pattern of presentation of recent onset allergic eye disease (AED). This cross-sectional hospital-based study included new patients (≤21 years of age) presenting between January 2016 and August 2018 from the district of Hyderabad with a clinical diagnosis of AED and an acute exacerbation of recent onset of symptoms of less than 3 months duration. Correlation analysis was performed with the local environmental rainfall, temperature, humidity, windspeed, and air pollution. Of the 25,354 new patients hailing from the district of Hyderabad, 2494 (9.84%) patients were diagnosed with AED, of which 1062 (4.19%) patients had recent onset of symptoms. The mean monthly prevalence in this cohort was 4.13%, and the month of May (6.09%) showed the highest levels. The environmental parameters of humidity (r2 = 0.83/p = < 0.0001) and rainfall (r2 = 0.41/p = 0.0232) showed significant negative correlation, while temperature (r2 = 0.43/p = 0.0206) and ground-level ozone (r2 = 0.41/p = 0.0005) showed significant positive correlation with the temporal pattern of AED in the population. An increase in rainfall and humidity was associated with a lower prevalence, and an increase of temperature and ground-level ozone was associated with a higher prevalence of AED cases during the year among children and adolescents.

Highlights

The air we breathe is one of the most significant determinants of health of the population
This study sought to describe the correlation between the meteorological parameters such as environmental temperature, rainfall, humidity, windspeed, and pollution with the temporal pattern of presentation of recent onset allergic eye disease (AED) in a cohort of patients presenting to a multi-tier hospital network in India using electronic medical record-driven analytics
The findings of this study suggest that there is a clear pattern of certain environmental factors with the temporal pattern of AED in the population of the district of Hyderabad, with a peak prevalence seen in the month of May and the lowest seen in the month of August

Summary

Introduction

The air we breathe is one of the most significant determinants of health of the population. 9 out of 10 individuals breathe polluted air that claims over 7 million lives a year [1]. Air pollution poses a serious threat to individuals and is responsible for over one-third of deaths due to chronic obstructive lung disease, lung cancer, stroke, and cardiovascular disease [2]. While the respiratory system majorly takes the brunt of the damage, the ocular surface is directly exposed to various external environmental factors including air pollution. The irritants in the external environment cause ocular surface inflammation that leads to irritation, watering, burning sensation, and itching impairing the quality of life of the individual. There are many studies that have investigated the relationship between air quality and systemic disease, but there is limited literature on its effect on ocular diseases such as conjunctivitis [3], allergic eye disease [4], and dry eye [5]

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