Prevent Disease.com - Study Gives More Proof of 'Thunderstorm Asthma'



		Study Gives More Proof of 'Thunderstorm Asthma' NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Asthmatics who believe that their symptoms get worse during thunderstorms may be right, according to the results of a six-year study. It also suggests that the reason for so-called thunderstorm asthma may have something to do with the increased concentration of airborne fungal spores during thunderstorms, rather than the high grass pollen counts, as has been suggested previously. Over the past 20 years, there have been sporadic reports linking worsened asthma with thunderstorms. The phenomenon has been observed in Australia, London and the United States, but it has not previously been studied in depth. In the current study, Dr. Robert E. Dales of the University of Ottawa Health Research Institute in Ontario, Canada, and his colleagues conducted daily observations of thunderstorms and children's asthma-related emergency department visits over a six-year period. They found that asthma-related hospital visits increased by 15 percent during thunderstorms, from an average 8.6 visits on days without thunderstorms to 10 on stormy days. The findings appear in the March issue of the journal CHEST. The investigators also observed a near doubling in the concentration of allergens called fungal spores during thunderstorms. Overall, although fungal spores were more abundant in the summer months of July, August and September than in the spring, they were always most plentiful during thunderstorms, regardless of the season. Previous studies have suggested that asthma exacerbations during thunderstorms are somehow caused by the higher pollen counts. But Dales and his team found no association between hospital visits and weed, grass or tree pollen. Yet the researchers did find a link between increased fungal spores and asthma-related hospital visits, even in the absence of thunderstorms. As the fungal spore count rose from day to day, so too did the number of asthma-related emergency department visits, "making it unlikely that the elevations in spores and asthma were simply coincidental," the authors write. They note, however, that their study was concentrated in one geographic area (Ottawa), so it's unclear if the findings hold true in other climates. A previous study showed asthma attacks may also be more common on misty or foggy nights. SOURCE: CHEST 2003;123:745-750. Reference Source 89 For more information on how to prevent other diseases, use PreventDisease.com's "Quick Prevention Resources".