Ambient ozone and emergency department visits for skin conditions

作者：Szyszkowicz Mieczyslaw^*; Porada Eugeniusz; Searles Gordon; Rowe Brian H

来源：Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health, 2012, 5(3): 303-309.

DOI：10.1007/s11869-010-0092-5

• Emergency department
• Ozone
• Skin rash
• Dermatitis
• Eczema urticaria
• Conjunctivitis

Little is known regarding the epidemiology of acute skin/eye infection and inflammations and their link to ambient air pollution; however, skin/eye problems are among the most frequent health complaints seen by emergency physicians. The authors explored links between previous day exposures to ambient ozone and the daily visits to emergency departments (ED) for inflammation or infections in the outer layers of the skin or eyelid. The study was based on ED visits that took place in Edmonton, Canada, during the period of April 1992 to March 2002, where 1.4% of patients presented with these conditions. A case-crossover design was used to compute the odds ratio (OR) and its 95% confidence interval (CI) of a skin emergency when two exposure doses differed by a predefined unit (here, interquartile range of daily ozone concentration = 14 ppb). The most noticeable results for all patients were: skin rash/eruption, lag 0 days (OR=1.17; 95%CI: 1.06, 1.30); dermatitis/eczema, lag 2 days (OR=1.15; 95%CI: 1.06, 1.25); urticaria, lag 4 days (OR=1.11; 95%CI: 1.03, 1.20); unspecified conjunctivitis, lag 5 days (OR=1.11; 95%CI: 1.04, 1.18). As for male patients, the result was dermatitis/eczema, lag 2 days (OR=1.15; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.30). As for female patients, the results were rash/eruption, lag 0 days (OR=1.23; 95%CI: 1.08, 1.41); dermatitis/eczema, lag 2 days (OR=1.16; 95%CI: 1.04, 1.30); urticaria, lag 4 days (OR=1.19; 95%CI: 1.08, 1.31); and unspecified conjunctivitis, lag 7 days (OR=1.20; 95% CI: 1.09, 1.32). Exposure to ambient ozone may emerge as a mediator of acute symptoms of diseases affecting the protective outer layers of the skin and eye conjunctiva.

• 出版日期2012-9