Prenatal Air Pollutant Exposure and Occurrence of Atopic Dermatitis

Abstract

Prenatal Air Pollutant Exposure and Occurrence of Atopic DermatitisAbstract Number:1907 Hintchun Huang*, Ching-Chun Huang, Yue-liang Leon Guo, and Hui-Ju Wen Hintchun Huang* National Taiwan University, E-mail Address: [email protected] Search for more papers by this author , Ching-Chun Huang Institute of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, E-mail Address: [email protected] Search for more papers by this author , Yue-liang Leon Guo Environmental and Occupational Medicine, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, E-mail Address: [email protected] Search for more papers by this author , and Hui-Ju Wen Institute of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, E-mail Address: [email protected] Search for more papers by this author AbstractBackground Hereditary and environmental factors have been related to occurrence of atopic dermatitis (AD) in early childhood. However, the role of prenatal and early postnatal exposure to air pollutants has not been totally elucidated.Objectives The study aimed to evaluate the association between prenatal air pollutants exposure and occurrence of AD.Methods A total of 24,200 infant-mother pairs were recruited to participate in the Taiwan Birth Cohort Study in 2005 using multistage stratified sampling. Medical history, including physician-diagnosed AD, was inquired by questionnaire at infant’s age of six months. Monthly average of 5 criteria air pollutants, NO2, CO, O3, SO2, and PM10, were retrieved from 66 Air Quality Monitoring Stations, and interpolated to all administrative districts using kriging method. Exposure data during each of the three gestational trimesters and three months after birth were calculated for each study subject, and odds ratios of AD occurrence were calculated by logistic regression.Results Among the participants, 16,686 mother-infant pairs were qualified and included for the analysis. Among them, 1,206 infants (7.2%) have been diagnosed as having AD before age of six months, and the prevalence was higher in boys (8.3%) than in girls (6.1%). The occurrence of AD was significantly associated with CO exposure during whole gestational period (aOR = 1.37, 95% CIs: 1.06~1.78) and the first trimester (aOR = 1.51, 95% CIs: 1.16~1.97).Conclusions Our study found relationship between AD occurrence and gestational exposure to CO, and exposure during the first trimester seemed to be the most important.