As we head into the new year, some issues may be coming into sharper focus for those involved in allergy-immunology issues. The current issue of Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, the scientific journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, focuses its attention on a key problem affecting those with allergic conditions and the world today: climate change.
"We recognize that climate change affects the global population, and that many people feel they as individuals don't have much control," says allergist Donald Leung, MD, PhD, Senior Executive Editor of Annals. "But we also wanted to highlight the role of allergists in working with patients whose allergic diseases might be affected by global warming and climate change. There is evidence that the environment affects those living with asthma, seasonal allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, atopic dermatitis, and other allergic conditions. Our goal was to address the effects of climate change on those conditions through a series of well-researched articles by highly respected allergists."
The articles on this topic in the December issue are as follows:
- Editorial: What the practicing allergist can and should do regarding climate change (Stukus)
- CME Review: Factors by which global warming worsens allergic disease (Nadeau)
- Review: How does global warming contribute to disorders originating from an impaired epithelial barrier? (Akdis)
- Review: The impact of temperature on the skin barrier and atopic dermatitis (Leung)
- Review: Military burn pit exposure and airway disease (Doherty)
These five articles highlight how climate change has affected diseases such as atopic dermatitis, asthma, allergic rhinitis and allergies in general. One example of the effect of climate change is that pollen seasons are lasting longer and starting earlier due to environmental warming. The CME review by Seastedt and Nadeau discusses how global fires and dust storms have increased atopic disease and worsened allergies. Global warming also has been shown to lead to disruption of the epithelial barrier, and as a result, alarmins can be induced, which leads to increasing T2 inflammation in allergy. An editorial by Dr. David Stukus stresses the important role that allergists can play in helping patients who are being affected by the effects of global warming and climate change.
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