HOURLY VARIATION OF POLLEN COUNTS

Abstract

<h3>Introduction</h3> Patients with pollen allergies need to be aware about the time of day when they are exposed to the higher pollen levels. <h3>Methods</h3> we first evaluated the accuracy of the pollen measurements of an automated real-time pollen imaging sensor (APS–300) to that of the Rotorod sampler with manual counting at the Atlanta Allergy and Asthma Clinic (AAAC) located ∼30 km northwest of downtown Atlanta (i.e. the Marietta site). We then investigated the diurnal variability of pollen levels at all three of our study sites (Marietta, Emory ∼ 7 km northeast of downtown Atlanta, and SouthFace at downtown Atlanta) from 24 March to 31 March 2021, which measured the highest pollen levels during our study period. We also averaged the hourly pollen concentrations during this week to reduce day-to-day fluctuations due to weather conditions. <h3>Results</h3> Analysis of data collection knows that real-time pollen monitoring measured lower pollen levels between 4 am to noon and then a gradual increase with the peak pollen counts at approximately 2 PM to 9 pm. <h3>Conclusions</h3> Hourly pollen counts are difficult to measure but the automated real-time imaging sensor enables accurate hourly counts. Clinical implication is that patients with pollen allergy should plan their outdoor activities in the morning when the pollen counts are lowest.