How Does Climate Change Affect the Upper Airway?

Jean Kim; Benjamin Zaitchik; Darryn Waugh

doi:10.1016/j.otc.2023.09.008

How Does Climate Change Affect the Upper Airway?

Otolaryngol Clin North Am. 2024 Apr;57(2):309-317. doi: 10.1016/j.otc.2023.09.008. Epub 2023 Nov 1.

Authors

Jean Kim¹, Benjamin Zaitchik², Darryn Waugh³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA; Department of Medicine, Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA. Electronic address: jeankim@jhmi.edu.
² Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Kennedy Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles Street, Olin Hall 301, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
³ Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Kennedy Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles Street, Olin Hall 320, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.

PMID: 37923592
DOI: 10.1016/j.otc.2023.09.008

Abstract

There is mounting evidence that climate change is having a significant influence on exacerbations of airway disease. We herein explore the physical factors of carbon dioxide, temperature increases, and humidity on intensifying allergen and fungal growth, and worsening air quality. The direct influence of these factors on promoting allergic rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis, and allergic fungal rhinosinusitis is reviewed.

Keywords: Air pollution; Allergic fungal rhinosinusitis; Allergic rhinitis; Anthropogenic activity; Climate change; Mold; PM(2.5); Social determinants of health.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Allergens
Climate Change
Humans
Nose
Rhinitis, Allergic*
Sinusitis*

Substances

Allergens