Exposure to air pollution and incidence of atopic dermatitis in the general population: A national population-based retrospective cohort study

Background

To date, there is little evidence to determine whether atopic dermatitis (AD) can be caused by exposure to air pollutants including gases and particulate matter (PM).

Objective

We aimed to evaluate the relationship between air pollutants and incidence of AD using the National Health Insurance Service–National Sample Cohort (NHIS-NSC) database.

Methods

We included 209,168 subjects from the general population previously not diagnosed with AD from 2008 to 2013. Long-term average concentration of air pollutants before diagnosis was calculated for each subject.

Results

For 1,030,324 person-years, incident case of AD was observed in 3,203 subjects. There was a significant positive association between incidence of AD and long-term average concentration of PM2.5 [HR=1.420 (95% CI 1.392-1.448) for 1 μg/m3], PM10 [HR=1.333 (95% CI 1.325-1.341) for 1 μg/m3], SO2 [HR=1.626 (95% CI 1.559-1.695) for 1 ppb], NO2 [HR=1.200 (95% CI 1.187-1.212) for 1 ppb], and CO [HR=1.005 (95% CI 1.004-1.005) for 1 ppb] after adjusting for age, sex, income, comorbid diseases and meteorological variables.

Limitations

The NHIS database lacks detailed information on individual subjects.

Conclusions

This study demonstrated that long-term exposure to air pollutants including gases and particulate matter is an independent risk factor for developing AD.

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