Changes to airborne pollen counts across Europe

A progressive global increase in the burden of allergic diseases has affected the industrialized world over the last half century and has been reported in the literature. The clinical evidence reveals a general increase in both incidence and prevalence of respiratory diseases, such as allergic rhini...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	PloS one Vol. 7; no. 4; p. e34076
Main Authors:	Ziello, Chiara, Sparks, Tim H, Estrella, Nicole, Belmonte, Jordina, Bergmann, Karl C, Bucher, Edith, Brighetti, Maria Antonia, Damialis, Athanasios, Detandt, Monique, Galán, Carmen, Gehrig, Regula, Grewling, Lukasz, Gutiérrez Bustillo, Adela M, Hallsdóttir, Margrét, Kockhans-Bieda, Marie-Claire, De Linares, Concepción, Myszkowska, Dorota, Pàldy, Anna, Sánchez, Adriana, Smith, Matthew, Thibaudon, Michel, Travaglini, Alessandro, Uruska, Agnieszka, Valencia-Barrera, Rosa M, Vokou, Despoina, Wachter, Reinhard, de Weger, Letty A, Menzel, Annette
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Public Library of Science 13-04-2012 Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects:	Air pollution Allergenicity Allergens - analysis Allergic diseases Allergic rhinitis Ambrosia artemisiifolia Analysis Anthropogenic factors Asthma Biology Carbon dioxide Carbon monoxide Climate Change Corylus Ecology Environmental science Europe Geography Global temperature changes Hay fever Laboratories Medicine Phenology Pollen Precipitation Respiratory diseases Respiratory tract diseases Rhinitis Rural areas Seasons Trees Trends Winter Europe Greece New York Austria United Kingdom > UK United States > US Luxembourg Poland Italy Germany Spain
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Summary:	A progressive global increase in the burden of allergic diseases has affected the industrialized world over the last half century and has been reported in the literature. The clinical evidence reveals a general increase in both incidence and prevalence of respiratory diseases, such as allergic rhinitis (common hay fever) and asthma. Such phenomena may be related not only to air pollution and changes in lifestyle, but also to an actual increase in airborne quantities of allergenic pollen. Experimental enhancements of carbon dioxide (CO[Formula: see text]) have demonstrated changes in pollen amount and allergenicity, but this has rarely been shown in the wider environment. The present analysis of a continental-scale pollen data set reveals an increasing trend in the yearly amount of airborne pollen for many taxa in Europe, which is more pronounced in urban than semi-rural/rural areas. Climate change may contribute to these changes, however increased temperatures do not appear to be a major influencing factor. Instead, we suggest the anthropogenic rise of atmospheric CO[Formula: see text] levels may be influential.
Bibliography:	Analyzed the data: CZ. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: JB KCB EB MAB AD MD CG RG LG AMGB MH MCKB CDL DM AP AS MS MT AT AU RMVB DV RW LADW. Wrote the paper: CZ THS NE AM. Conceived and designed the data analysis: CZ THS NE AM.
ISSN:	1932-6203 1932-6203
DOI:	10.1371/journal.pone.0034076