ArticleThe World Allergy Organization journal2018
The connection of pollen concentrations and crowd-sourced symptom data: new insights from daily and seasonal symptom load index data from 2013 to 2017 in Vienna.
Article in The World Allergy Organization journal, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A systematic review of the effects of temperature and precipitation on pollen concentrations and season timing, and implications for human health.International journal of biometeorology · 2021Pooled it
- Symptom probability increases at low pollen exposure in adolescents with allergic rhinitis findings from the GINIplus and LISA birth cohorts.Pediatric allergy and immunology : official publication of the European Society of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology · 2026Article
- Temporal Patterns of Allergen Sensitisation in the General Population: The LEAD Study.Clinical and translational allergy · 2026Article
- Political ideology and scientific communication shape human perceptions of pollen seasons.PNAS nexus · 2026Article
- Digital health in allergy care: current practices, evidence, and future prospects.Frontiers in allergy · 2026Review
- Pollen grading prediction scale for patients with Artemisia pollen allergy in China: A 3-day moving predictive model.Clinical and translational allergy · 2023Article
- The Clinical Significance of Pollen and Fungi Concentrations for Allergic Rhinitis: A Three-Year Study.Cureus · 2023Article
- Real-life evidence in allergen immunotherapy: Moving forward with mHealth apps.Allergologie select · 2023Review
- Real-world data using mHealth apps in rhinitis, rhinosinusitis and their multimorbidities.Clinical and translational allergy · 2022Article
- Assessment of Google Trends terms reporting allergies and the grass pollen season in Ukraine.The World Allergy Organization journal · 2020Article
- Digital technologies for an improved management of respiratory allergic diseases: 10 years of clinical studies using an online platform for patients and physicians.Italian journal of pediatrics · 2020Review
- Translating the Burden of Pollen Allergy Into Numbers Using Electronically Generated Symptom Data From the Patient's Hayfever Diary in Austria and Germany: 10-Year Observational Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Observational
- The evaluation of pollen concentrations with statistical and computational methods on rooftop and on ground level in Vienna - How to include daily crowd-sourced symptom data.The World Allergy Organization journal · 2019Article
- Shortened up-dosing with sublingual immunotherapy drops containing tree allergens is well tolerated and elicits dose-dependent clinical effects during the first pollen season.The World Allergy Organization journal · 2019Article
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4 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundOnline pollen diaries and mobile applications nowadays allow easy and fast documentation of pollen allergy symptoms. Such crowd-sourced symptom data provides insights into the development and the onset of a pollen allergy. Hitherto studies of the symptom load index (SLI) showed a discrepancy between the SLI and the total pollen amount of a season, but did not analyze the daily data.
methodsThe Patient's Hayfever Diary (PHD) was used as data pool for symptom data. Symptom data of Vienna (Austria) was chosen as a large and local sample size within the study period of 2013 until 2017. The city was divided into three different areas based on equal population densities and different environmental factors. Correlation factors, regression lines, locally weighted smoothing (LOESS) curves and line plots were calculated to examine the data.
resultsDaily SLI and pollen concentration data correlates well and the progress of the SLI within a pollen season is mirrored by the pollen concentrations. The LOESS curves do not deviate much from the regression line and support the linearity of the symptom-pollen correlation on a daily basis. Seasonal SLI data does not follow the same pattern as the respective seasonal pollen indices. Results did not vary in the three areas within Vienna or when compared with the Eastern region of Austria showing no significant spatial variation of the SLI. DISCUSSION: Results indicate a linear relationship of the SLI and pollen concentrations/seasonal polllen index (SPIn) on a daily basis for both in general and throughout the season, but not on a seasonal basis. These findings clarify the frequent misinterpretation of the SLI as index that is tightly connected to pollen concentrations, but reflects as well the seasonal variation of the burden of pollen allergy sufferers.
conclusionMore than just the seasonal pollen index has to be considered when the SLI of a selected pollen season has to be explained. Cross-reactivity to other pollen types, allergen content and air pollution could play a considerable role. The similar behavior of the SLI in Vienna and a whole region indicate the feasibility of a possible symptom forecast in future and justifies the use of a single pollen monitoring station within a city of the size of Vienna.
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