Anaphylaxis

Food Allergy

Seasonal Allergy

Allergy

Biosimilars

Arrhythmia

Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease

Dyslipidemia

Heart Failure

Hypertension

Lipid Management

Stroke

Structural Heart Disease

Venous Thromboembolism

Cardiology

Acne

Atopic Dermatitis

Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria

Plaque Psoriasis

Rosacea

Vitiligo

Dermatology

Hormonal Disorders

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Thyroid Disorders

Type 1 Diabetes

Type 2 Diabetes

Endocrinology

FDA News

COVID-19

Influenza

Vaccination

Family Medicine

C Difficile Infection

Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)

Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Peptic Ulcer

Ulcerative Colitis

Gastroenterology

Alzheimer Disease

Parkinson Disease

Geriatrics

Anemia

Sickle Cell

Hematology

Hepatitis C

MASH / MASLD

Hepatology

Hospital Medicine

HIV/AIDS

Infectious Disease

Internal Medicine

Chronic Kidney Disease

IgA Nephropathy

Nephrology

Epilepsy

Migraine

Tardive Dyskinesia

Traumatic Brain Injury

Neurology

Obesity Management

Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Diabetic Macular Edema

Geographic Atrophy

Uveitis

Ophthalmology

Acute Pain

Chronic Pain

Multiple Sclerosis

Neuropathic Pain

Pain

Pediatrics

ADHD

Addiction

Bipolar Disorder

Major Depressive Disorder

PTSD

Schizophrenia

Psychiatry

Asthma

COPD

Lung Cancer

Pulmonary Fibrosis

Pulmonology

Amyloidosis

Huntington Disease

Lysosomal Storage Disorders

Vasculitis

Rare Disease Report®

Ankylosing Spondylitis

Fibromyalgia

Gout

Lupus

Non-radiographic Axial Spondyloarthritis

Osteoarthritis

Osteoporosis

Psoriatic Arthritis

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Spondyloarthritis

Rheumatology

Insomnia

Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Sleep

Plastic surgery

Surgery

Women's Health

News

Media

Medical World News

Podcasts

Shows

State Of Sciences - Presentations

Videos

Webinars

Multimedia Series

CURE Connections®

Insights

Medcast Podcasts

Medcast Videos

News Network

Peer Exchange

Peers & Perspectives

Conferences

Conference Coverage

Conference Listing

Partners

CME/CE

Resources

Interactive Tools

Live Events

Press Release

Publications

Advisory Board

Subscribe

Patrick Campbell is the managing editor of HCPLive. Formerly the editorial lead of Endocrinology Network, Practical Cardiology, and Rheumatology Network, Patrick has spent years spearheading coverage surrounding cardiometabolic health and rheumatic disease for MJH Life Sciences. He now helps to lead coverage in each of these respective areas for HCPLive. Before joining MJH Life Sciences in 2019, he spent time as a beat reporter with the Pocono Record in Stroudsburg, PA, and Star News Group in Manasquan, NJ. He also touts experience in multimedia, having spent time as a multimedia specialist with NJ Advance Media and multimedia coordinator at the Pocono Record. Follow him on Twitter @RealPatCampbell or reach him via email at PCampbell@mjhlifesciences.com.

Matthew Nudy, MD, discusses a trio of meta-analyses examining the effects of intensive blood pressure control on various targets. 

Matthew Nudy, MD: Balancing the Benefits and Risk of Intensive Blood Pressure Control

Lana Pine is the editor of HCPLive Rheumatology. She is an experienced editor and technical writer with a demonstrated history of working in the banking and publishing industries. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, yoga, listening to podcasts, and drawing. She can be reached via email at LPine@mjhlifesciences.com.

Articles

Strategies designed to promote medication adherence were found in only 1 out of 3 websites. 

Study Highlights Deficiencies in Medication Adherence Information, Strategies for Gout

FDA approves the generic equivalent of Narcan HCI Nasal Spray—naloxone hydrochloride (Naloxone HCI)—for an emergency treatment option for an opioid overdose.

FDA Approves Over-the-Counter Naloxone Nasal Spray for Opioid Overdose

Tim Smith joined the MJH Life Sciences team as an assistant editor for HCPLive in August 2022. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in political science, working in multimedia journalism as a staff writer prior to joining MJH. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, watching TV, listening to podcasts, and rock climbing. You can contact him at 

This analysis highlighted several trends in search volume regarding eczema, including correlations with weather and climate.

Study Highlights Trends in Atopic Dermatitis Web Search Volume in Europe

HCPLive is a comprehensive clinical news and information portal that provides physicians with up-to-date specialty and disease-specific resources designed to help them provide better care to patients. At HCPLive, you will find breaking news, video interviews with physician experts, in-depth conference coverage, finance and practice management updates, insight and analysis from physician contributors, and more.

About Us

Advertise

Editorial

Contact Us

Do Not Sell My Information

Privacy

Terms & Conditions

HCPLive - Clinical news for connected physicians

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Spotlight

Qazi Corner

Biosimilars Spotlight

DME & nAMD On-Demand Presentation

Clinical

Arterial Disease

Diabetes

Geriatric Medicine

Video Series

Post Conference Perspectives

clinical page is a resource for content on every specialty, disease, and topic available on our medical news site.

Clinical Topics

David B. Peden, MD

Elizabeth Cerceo, MD

Lewis Ziska, PhD

Every few years scientists re-confirm, through new research, that airborne pollen has substantial respiratory health impacts and that anthropogenic or man-made climate change is known to exacerbate these impacts by increasing concentrations of pollen and extending pollen seasons.

Studies conducted in both greenhouse and field settings have shown a link between pollen levels and rising temperatures, indicating a need for public health policies and awareness raising regarding anthropogenic climate change's role in pollen seasons.

 Such a shift in the environment is uniquely foreboding as it has been suggested that it can adversely affect human health by contributing to rises in 

 editorial team regularly interviews experts in the medical field with the aim of raising awareness of various health concerns and informing clinicians on such topics. This feature article represents a deep dive into the subject of climate change in honor of Earth Day, specifically in its adverse relationship to allergic disease.

In this video series, 3 experts were featured to discuss such issues and to highlight research on the causative relationship linking air pollution, rising temperatures, and prevalence of different allergic conditions.

The team spoke with David B. Peden, MD, the Harry S. Andrews professor of pediatrics, medicine and microbiology/immunology and associate director of the Center for Environmental Medicine, Asthma & Lung Biology at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine. We also interviewed Elizabeth Cerceo, MD, associate internal medicine program director and the director of environmental health in the division of hospital medicine at Cooper University Health Care.

Lastly, we spoke with Lewis Ziska, PhD, an associate professor of environmental health sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and the Climate and Health Certificate Lead. Ziska, Peden, and Cerceo each are leading experts in their fields and have contributed their views and research on this topic throughout their careers.

Given the surge of interest around the dangers of anthropogenic climate change and the rising incidence of allergic diseases in industrialized countries, these 3 interviews posted above highlight several key topics regarding new research, public health needs, and changing perceptions regarding humanity’s shared impact on the health of the planet.

Here are several notable quotes from the 3 interviews on the topic of climate change and its effects regarding allergic conditions.

On Pollution and Its Impact on Climate Change

What's pretty clear is that manmade air pollution is a singular driver to the changing climate that we're seeing now. The carbon footprint is essential and it becomes a cycle. What happens is that as you have man-made pollutants, you change climate, you have you have a warmer climate, and that changes the likelihood that pollutants are going to be produced, then you're going to get more pollutants, that then changes the climate, so it becomes a little bit of a cycle…Fossil fuel, combustion, is clearly the most significant driver of climate change that we have.

There's really two prongs to it. When we combust fossil fuels, it both releases the greenhouse gasses that accelerate climate change and global warming. Then there's the direct effect from all of those pollutants, those things that we breathe in, that we eat, and that we consume. All of those have impacts on our health and wellbeing.

The (Environmental Protection Agency) has designated 188 hazardous air pollutants, and these are known bad actors. These are things like acrolein, benzene, cadmium, mercury, and we know that these are not good for our health. Then there's the criteria air pollutants and those are 6 things that affect more broader air quality. Those are things like particulate matter, 2.5, or PM2.5. Things like ozone, oxides of nitrogen, sulfur dioxide, but it also encompasses lead and carbon monoxide.

Right now, there are efforts to try and address what's happening in regard to fossil fuel emissions and efforts in regard to public health, but very little at the governmental level. I think if you looked at all of the money that the National Institute of Health spent in the last 3 years on average each year, they're spending about $12 million. That's a million, not a billion. So these issues related to the climate and health are obviously important, and pollen is just one aspect of that. But you can look at air quality, you can look at heat stress. There's so many more aspects of this that we just don't really have a full grasp on yet. I think there's a lot more that we need to know.

On Climate Change's Effect on Pollen Allergies

 What has happened is that as you have a warmer climate, 2 things occur. One, the pollination season is longer, so in the American northeast, what used to be a relatively robust but brief pollen season now has spread out several weeks longer than it used to be. That's all because you have mild falls, milder winters, and it goes into spring. So spring kind of begins earlier and it lasts longer. You end up having a longer time for plants to pollinate.

The most robustly-studied of those is ragweed and ragweed pollen. But in fact, tree pollen also behaves much the same way. Birch has been studied in Europe. Basically, any flowering plant that requires airborne pollination. In flowers that require insects, that pollen is usually not the issue. But airborne pollination really is the problem.

 If we dial in on allergies in particular, allergies are a huge problem. Globally, about 30% of adults and about 40% of children have allergies, nasal polyps, and it's projected that by 2050, there's going to be 4 billion people with allergies. There's a lot of reasons for that. First, with climate change and global warming, we see at higher temperatures that these allergenic plants flourish. They go into regions where they weren't before. They have longer growing seasons and there's earlier springs.

There's actually a great interactive article in the Washington Post, where you can see these early springs that are really in a U-shape across almost all of the US. There's a little tiny swath in the Upper Midwest that it's not affecting yet. But for so many of us, we're seeing early springs, and we're seeing longer allergenic seasons, sometimes by up to 28 days. The other problem is that as you have higher CO

 concentrations, that actually propagates more pollen and that pollen is more allergenic. Specifically, it impacts the Amb a 1 protein, and it makes it even more potent.

 One of the things that's happening with rising carbon dioxide is it also directly affects the chemistry of plants and one of the effects that we're seeing is for ragweed, which is some of my work. Dr. Oh, the head of pediatric allergy in South Korea, was looking at it for oak trees. In both cases, what we saw was that as CO

 increases, the protein on the surface of the exine, the exine—which is the outer outer shell of the pollen protein that causes the immune system to respond and causes your allergies—is increasing. Basically, what rising CO

 is doing is changing the chemistry in a way that makes the pollen more allergenic.

So when you add that to the other 2 facets…the direct effects of rising CO

, as well as the indirect effect of rising CO

 relative to temperatures, are going to affect the amount of pollen that's going into the air. The amounts of pollen in the air, in turn, are going to affect your respiration, your allergies, and so forth. For myself, I carry a rescue inhaler around that was made during the spring and the fall, because my allergies are severe enough that I can get asthma. We know that the amount of pollen, the kind of pollen, will have respiratory effects that depending on the individual may become exacerbated to asthma and often COPD and other health issues.

Cerceo, Peden, and Ziska joined HCPLive to speak on the imminent threat posed by climate change, highlighting the impact especially on individuals with allergic disease.

A Rising Tide: The Impact of Climate Change on Allergic Disease

Seasonal Allergy

Latest News