Influence of atmospheric ozone, PM 10 and meteorological factors on the concentration of airborne pollen and fungal spores

Abstract

The increase of allergenic symptoms has been associated with air contaminants such as ozone, particulate matter, pollen and fungal spores. Considering the potential relevance of crossed effects of non-biological pollutants and airborne pollens and fungal spores on allergy worsening, the aim of this work was to evaluate the influence of non-biological pollutants and meteorological parameters on the concentrations of pollen and fungal spores using linear correlations and multiple linear regressions. For that, the seasonal variation of ozone, particulate matter with an equivalent aerodynamic diameter smaller than 10 μm, pollen and fungal spores were assessed and statistical correlations were analysed between those parameters. The data were collected through 2003–2005 in Porto, Portugal. The linear correlations showed that ozone and particulate matter had no significant influence on the concentration of pollen and fungal spores. On the contrary, when using multiple linear regressions those parameters showed to have some influence on the biological pollutants, although results were different depending on the year analysed. Among the meteorological parameters analysed, temperature was the one that most influenced the pollen and fungal spores airborne concentrations, both when using linear and multiple linear correlations. Relative humidity also showed to have some influence on the fungal spore dispersion when multiple linear regressions were used. Nevertheless, the conclusions for each pollen and fungal spore were different depending on the analysed period, which means that the correlations identified as statistically significant may not be, even so, consistent enough. Furthermore, the comparison of the results here presented with those obtained by other authors for only one period should be made carefully.