Climate change and atopic dermatitis

Kyu Han Kim

doi:10.5124/jkma.2011.54.2.169

J Korean Med Assoc > Volume 54(2); 2011 > Article

Kim: Climate change and atopic dermatitis

Focused Issue of This Month

Climate Change and Allergy

Journal of the Korean Medical Association

Journal of the Korean Medical Association 2011; 54(2): 169-174.

Published online: February 11, 2011

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2011.54.2.169

Climate change and atopic dermatitis

Kyu Han Kim, MD

Department of Dermatology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

Corresponding author: Kyu Han Kim, kyuhkim@snu.ac.kr

Received December 22, 2010 Accepted January 10, 2011

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

The prevalence of atopic diseases seems to be increasing worldwide. Climate change induced by global warming has been reported to increase allergic respiratory diseases such as asthma and allergic rhinitis (AR), and appears to aggravate atopic dermatitis (AD). Increasing air pollution and pollen associated with climate change, acting individually or synergistically, may have harmful effects on the prevalence and symptoms of AD, because they can easily penetrate the damaged epithelium of AD and sensitize patients. However, the direct scientific evidence supporting the linear correlation between climate change and increase of AD is quite limited compared to that available for respiratory allergic diseases. Large-scale population studies are necessary to observe the effects of climate change on AD in a more detailed and objective way. In terms of allergic march, climate change may aggravate and increase AD and lead to more increases in asthma and AR in the long run.

Climate change; Prevalence; Atopic dermatitis

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