Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38103119›Full record

ArticleDermatology and therapy2024

The Burden of Air Pollution on Skin Health: a Brief Report and Call to Action.

Kathyana P Santiago Mangual, Sarah Ferree, Jenny E Murase, Arianne Shadi Kourosh

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Dermatology and therapy, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
1.4field-weighted citation impact, top 20% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
  2. Review
  3. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

Kathyana P Santiago MangualDepartment of Dermatology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 50 Staniford Street, Boston, MA, 02114, USA. ksantiagomangual@mgh.harvard.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0004-5079-941X
Sarah FerreeDivision of Dermatology, Department of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0007-1806-2831
Jenny E MuraseDepartment of Dermatology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7529-9778
Arianne Shadi KouroshDepartment of Dermatology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 50 Staniford Street, Boston, MA, 02114, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5658-8232
Harvard University · USUniversity of California, Los Angeles · USUniversity of California, San Francisco · USWashington University in St. Louis · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionAir pollution in North America has intensified due to wildfires in recent years. In 2023, the wildfires in the Canadian province of Quebec caused a southward spread of pollutants, negatively affecting air quality and thereby aggravating certain health conditions in northeastern USA. This study examines the impact of air pollution on atopic dermatitis (AD) and skin health and how wildfires can exacerbate the burden of disease.

methodsCarbon monoxide levels measured by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the Boston region during the months following the Canadian wildfires of 2023 were collected from the U.S. EPA Outdoor Air Quality webpage. Patient records on dermatology clinic visits for dermatitis and eczema at the Mass General Brigham (MGB) hospital system, 300 miles from the wildfires, were examined, and the data compared with data from the corresponding months in 2019-2022 for historical control. No individual patient data were collected.

resultsA notable rise and atypical summer peak in carbon monoxide (CO) levels in the Boston region during 2023 correlated with a spike in AD, dermatitis, and eczema-related dermatology clinic visits within the MGB hospital system, as compared with the prior 4 years.

conclusionThe synchronized atypical peaks of CO levels and AD-related visits during the summer of 2023 highlight the potential impact of acute air pollution events such as wildfires on air quality and the consequences for skin health. Air pollution, exacerbated by wildfires, can damage the skin through the smoke and chemicals utilized for extinguishing fires, which contain multiple potential allergens and irritants to the skin, such as CO, particulate matter (PM2.5), and ammonium phosphates, triggering airway and skin inflammation and flares of AD. This issue disproportionately affects vulnerable populations, including low-income communities and the geriatric and pediatric populations. Healthcare professionals and government agencies must work together to improve air quality and purification policies and initiatives to lower the burden of skin disease, especially for vulnerable communities.

Indexed as

Air pollutionAtopic dermatitisCarbon monoxideClimate changeEczemaPublic healthSkin healthVulnerable populationsWildfires

Identifiers

PMID38103119
PMCPMC10828340
OpenAlexW4389832881

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.