title: Association between Asian Dust-Borne Air Pollutants and Daily Symptoms on Healthy Subjects: A Web-Based Pilot Study in Yonago, Japan.
abstract: During the spring, Asian dust (AD) repeatedly makes its way to Japan, originating from drylands. We evaluated the association between AD-borne air pollutants and daily reported subjective symptoms in healthy subjects. We constructed an Internet questionnaire on daily ocular, nasal, respiratory, and skin symptoms. Forty-two healthy volunteers residents of Yonago (mean age, 33.57) were selected from the self-reporting web-based survey and recorded their symptoms between 1 and 31 of March 2013. We also collected information on levels of suspended particulate matter (SPM), particulate matter < 2.5µm (PM2.5), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen oxide (NOx) per hour on each of those days. SPM and PM2.5were the dominant pollutants recorded throughout the month. A positive correlation was observed between SPM and ocular (r= 0.475,p< 0.01), nasal (r= 0.614,p< 0.001), and skin (r= 0.445,p< 0.05) symptoms. PM2.5correlations were significant for ocular (r= 0.428,p< 0.05), nasal (r= 0.560,p< 0.01), and skin (r= 0.437,p< 0.05) symptoms. Our findings provide introductory evidence of AD-borne air pollutants and their association with several bodily symptoms in healthy subjects with the implementation of a self-administrated web-based survey application.
authors.affiliation: International Platform for Dryland Research and Education, Tottori University, 1390 Hamasaka, Tottori 680-0001, Japan.
authors.forename: Abir
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6151-5732
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Majbauddin
authors.affiliation: Center for Birth Cohort Studies, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Medicine, University of Yamanashi, 1110 Shimokato, Chuo, Yamanashi 409-3898, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazunari
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Onishi
authors.affiliation: International Platform for Dryland Research and Education, Tottori University, 1390 Hamasaka, Tottori 680-0001, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Otani
authors.affiliation: Arid Land Research Center, Tottori University, 1390 Hamasaka, Tottori 680-0001, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasunori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kurosaki
authors.affiliation: Division of Health Administration and Promotion, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, 86 Nishi-cho, Yonago 683-8504, Japan.
authors.forename: Youichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kurozawa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001208:Asia; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis*; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011634:Public Health / Q000379:methods*; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D057566:Self Report; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D004391:Dust