title: Short-term effects of weather and air pollution on atopic dermatitis symptoms in children: A panel study in Korea.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The effects of weather and air pollution on the severity and persistence of atopic dermatitis (AD) are important issues that have not been investigated in detail. The objective of our study was to determine the short-term effects of meteorological variables and air pollution on AD symptoms in children.
  
  
  METHODS
  We enrolled 177 AD patients with 5 years or younger from the Seoul Metropolitan Area, Korea, and followed for 17 months between August 2013 and December 2014. Symptoms records of 35,158 person-days, including itching, sleep disturbance, erythema, dry skin, oozing, and edema, were obtained. We estimated the effect of meteorological variables including daily mean temperature, relative humidity (RH), diurnal temperature range (DTR), rainfall and air pollutants including particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤10 μm (PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and tropospheric ozone (O3) on AD symptoms using a generalized linear mixed model with adjustment for related confounding factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A 5°C increase in outdoor temperature and a 5% increase in outdoor RH was associated with 12.8% (95% confidence intervals (CI): 10.5, 15.2) and 3.3% (95% CI: 1.7, 4.7) decrease in AD symptoms, respectively, on the same day. An increase of rainfall by 5 mm increased AD symptoms by 7.3% (95% CI: 3.6, 11.1) for the days with <40 mm rainfall. The risk of AD symptoms increased by 284.9% (95% CI: 67.6, 784.2) according to a 5°C increase in DTR when it was >14°C. An increase in PM10, NO2, and O3 by 10 units increased the risk of AD symptoms on the same day by 3.2% (95% CI: 1.5, 4.9), 5.0% (95% CI: 1.4, 8.8), and 6.1% (95% CI: 3.2, 9.0), respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Exposure to meteorological variables and air pollutants are associated with AD symptoms in young children.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Health Center for Atopic Diseases, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.|Department of Pediatrics, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Young-Min
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Environmental Health Center for Atopic Diseases, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.|Department of Pediatrics, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jihyun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Environmental Health Center for Atopic Diseases, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Youngshin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.
authors.forename: Byoung-Hak
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Jeon
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.
authors.forename: Hae-Kwan
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Cheong
authors.affiliation: Environmental Health Center for Atopic Diseases, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.|Department of Pediatrics, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Kangmo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ahn
mesh_terms: D000397:Air Pollution; D002648:Child; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D056910:Republic of Korea; D014887:Weather