• Vesna Tomić-Spirić, Gordana Kovačević, Jelena Marinković, Janko Janković, Anđa Ćirković, Ana Milošević Đerić, Nenad Relić, and Slavenka Janković.
• Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
• J Res Med Sci. 2021 Jan 1; 26: 109.

BackgroundStrong epidemiological evidence suggests that air pollution plays a significant role in the exacerbation of allergic respiratory diseases. This study aimed to assess the potential relationship between daily levels of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and emergency department (ED) visits for allergic diseases.Materials And MethodsData regarding ED visits for allergic respiratory diseases were routinely collected from the EDs in the Zlatibor district, and the General Hospital, Užice. The daily average concentrations of SO2 were obtained from the regional automatic air quality monitoring stations. All data were collected from June 2012 to July 2014. A time-stratified case-crossover design was used. Crude odds ratios (ORs) and ORs adjusted for weather conditions were calculated using conditional logistic regression.ResultsStatistically significant associations were seen between 0-day lagged exposure to SO2 and ED visits for all allergic diseases (OR = 1.62; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.05-2.48; P = 0.028) and between 2-day lagged exposure to SO2 and ED visits for asthma with allergic rhinitis (OR = 2.00; 95% CI: 1.03-3.88; P = 0.042). These results were adjusted for temperature, temperature2, and humidity.ConclusionOur results suggest that short-term exposure to SO2 conferred an increased risk of ED visits for allergic respiratory diseases, particularly for asthma with concomitant allergic rhinitis.Copyright: © 2021 Journal of Research in Medical Sciences.

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