© 2004 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd & British Thoracic Society
EDITORIAL
Outdoor aeroallergens in asthma exacerbations
Role of outdoor aeroallergens in asthma exacerbations: epidemiological evidence
St George’s Hospital Medical School, London
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Mr R W Atkinson
Department of Community Health Sciences, St George’s Hospital Medical School, Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 0RE, UK; atkinson@sghms.ac.uk
Confounding factors complicate the interpretation of time series studies in examining the role of outdoor aeroallergens in asthma exacerbations
Keywords: asthma exacerbations; outdoor aeroallergens
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Despite historically low levels, outdoor environmental pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, and particulate matter are thought to play a role in exacerbating asthma. Much of this evidence comes from ecological "time series" studies that use sophisticated statistical methods to examine temporal associations between daily counts of asthma attacks and daily levels of air pollution at the population level. A good example of this type of study is the multi-city European study APHEA (Air Pollution and Health: an European Approach).1,2 Panel studies have also investigated temporal associations between daily outdoor air pollution levels and asthma but use the symptoms, lung function and medication use of individuals as the health status indicators. The multi-city equivalent in panel design is the PEACE study (Pollution Effects in Asthmatic Children in Europe). However, it failed to find statistically significant associations between particle measures, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide
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