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Climate Change and Allergic Disease

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Abstract

Allergies are prevalent throughout the United States and impose a substantial quality of life and economic burden. The potential effect of climate change has an impact on allergic disorders through variability of aeroallergens, food allergens and insect-based allergic venoms. Data suggest allergies (ocular and nasal allergies, allergic asthma and sinusitis) have increased in the United States and that there are changes in allergies to stinging insect populations (vespids, apids and fire ants). The cause of this upward trend is unknown, but any climate change may induce augmentation of this trend; the subspecialty of allergy and immunology needs to be keenly aware of potential issues that are projected for the near and not so distant future.

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Disclosure

Dr. Bielory is supported in part by STAR grant no. RD834547 (Observational, Laboratory, and Modeling Studies of the Impacts of Climate Change on Allergic Airway Disease; primary investigator: Leonard Bielory, MD, Rutgers University Center for Environmental Prediction).

Drs. Lyons and Goldberg reported no potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Leonard Bielory

  2. Rutgers University School of Business, Piscataway, NJ, USA

    Kevin Lyons

  3. Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, New York, NY, USA

    Robert Goldberg

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  1. Leonard Bielory
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  2. Kevin Lyons
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  3. Robert Goldberg
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Correspondence to Leonard Bielory.

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Bielory, L., Lyons, K. & Goldberg, R. Climate Change and Allergic Disease. Curr Allergy Asthma Rep 12, 485–494 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11882-012-0314-z

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