Synergistic effects of temperature and humidity on the symptoms of COPD patients

Abstract

This panel study investigates how temperature, humidity, and their interaction affect chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients' self-reported symptoms. One hundred and six COPD patients from Shanghai, China, were enrolled, and age, smoking status, St. George Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) score, and lung function index were recorded at baseline. The participants were asked to record their indoor temperature, humidity, and symptoms on diary cards between January 2011 and June 2012. Altogether, 82 patients finished the study. There was a significant interactive effect between temperature and humidity (p<0.0001) on COPD patients. When the indoor humidity was low, moderate, and high, the indoor temperature ORs were 0.969 (95% CI 0.922 to 1.017), 0.977 (0.962 to 0.999), and 0.920 (95% CI 0.908 to 0.933), respectively. Low temperature was a risk factor for COPD patients, and high humidity enhanced its risk on COPD. The indoor temperature should be kept at least on average at 18.2°C, while the humidity should be less than 70%. This study demonstrates that temperature and humidity were associated with COPD patients' symptoms, and high humidity would enhance the risk of COPD due to low temperature.