ArticlePloS one2018
Seasonal asthma in Melbourne, Australia, and some observations on the occurrence of thunderstorm asthma and its predictability.
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Epidemic Thunderstorm Asthma in China: A Systematic Review of an Artemisia-Associated Phenotype.Clinical reviews in allergy & immunology · 2026Pooled it
- Evaluating automated pollen monitoring for thunderstorm asthma and public health forecasting: a comparative study in Melbourne, Australia.Environmental monitoring and assessment · 2026Article
- Hay Fever Symptom Burden From Grass Pollen: Implications for Public Health Warning Thresholds.GeoHealth · 2026Article
- Review
- Analysing allergen-environment interactions to identify drivers of asthma presentations in Metropolitan Melbourne, 2017-2022.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Thunderstorm-Associated Asthma in Shenzhen, China: A Retrospective Case-Control Study of Risk Factors, Clinical Characteristics, and Management Approaches.Journal of asthma and allergy · 2026Article
- Hot and dry conditions elevate grass pollen and sub-pollen particle concentrations in Melbourne, Australia.Environmental science: atmospheres · 2025Article
- Under the weather: an epidemic thunderstorm asthma event in Leicester, June 2023.BMJ open respiratory research · 2025Article
- Global change, climate change, and asthma in children: Direct and indirect effects - A WAO Pediatric Asthma Committee Report.The World Allergy Organization journal · 2024Review
- Spring is associated with increased total and allergenic fungal concentrations in house dust from a pediatric asthma cohort in New York City.Building and environment · 2022Article
- Update about Oralair® as a treatment for grass pollen allergic rhinitis.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2022Review
- Asthma Hospital Admission and Readmission Spikes, Advancing Accurate Classification to Advance Understanding of Causes.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Thunderstorms, Pollen, and Severe Asthma in a Midwestern, USA, Urban Environment, 2007-2018.Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2022Article
- A Review of the Respiratory Health Burden Attributable to Short-Term Exposure to Pollen.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Review
- Combined Exposure to Birch Pollen and Thunderstorms Affects Respiratory Health in Stockholm, Sweden-A Time Series Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- 5-grass-pollen SLIT effectiveness in seasonal allergic rhinitis: Impact of sensitization to subtropical grass pollen.The World Allergy Organization journal · 2022Article
- Associations between air pollutant and pneumonia and asthma requiring hospitalization among children aged under 5 years in Ningbo, 2015-2017.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Managing Exacerbations in Thunderstorm Asthma: Current Insights.Journal of inflammation research · 2021Review
- Atmospheric modelling of grass pollen rupturing mechanisms for thunderstorm asthma prediction.PloS one · 2021Article
- Thunderstorm Asthma: Looking Back and Looking Forward.Journal of asthma and allergy · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We examine the seasonality of asthma-related hospital admissions in Melbourne, Australia, in particular the contribution and predictability of episodic thunderstorm asthma. Using a time-series ecological approach based on asthma admissions to Melbourne metropolitan hospitals, we identified seasonal peaks in asthma admissions that were centred in late February, June and mid-November. These peaks were most likely due to the return to school, winter viral infections and seasonal allergies, respectively. We performed non-linear statistical regression to predict daily admission rates as functions of the seasonal cycle, weather conditions, reported thunderstorms, pollen counts and air quality. Important predictor variables were the seasonal cycle and mean relative humidity in the preceding two weeks, with higher humidity associated with higher asthma admissions. Although various attempts were made to model asthma admissions, none of the models explained substantially more variation above that associated with the annual cycle. We also identified a list of high asthma admissions days (HAADs). Most HAADs fell in the late-February return-to-school peak and the November allergy peak, with the latter containing the greatest number of daily admissions. Many HAADs in the spring allergy peak may represent episodes of thunderstorm asthma, as they were associated with rainfall, thunderstorms, high ambient grass pollen levels and high humidity, a finding that suggests thunderstorm asthma is a recurrent phenomenon in Melbourne that occurs roughly once per five years. The rarity of thunderstorm asthma events makes prediction challenging, underscoring the importance of maintaining high standards of asthma management, both for patients and health professionals, especially during late spring and early summer.
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