Air pollution exposure a risk factor for Kawasaki disease

Exposure to particulate matter (PM) ≤2.5 µm and sulphur dioxide (SO₂) contributes to an increased risk of Kawasaki disease (KD) in children, a study has found.

Researchers obtained data on PM ≤10 or 2.5 µm in diameter, nitrogen dioxide, SO₂, carbon monoxide (CO), and ozone (O₃) from 235 regulatory monitoring stations in Korea. They applied a time‐stratified case‐crossover design and performed conditional logistic regression to estimate the associations of KD with exposure to each air pollutant concentration on the day of fever onset after, with adjustments for temperature and relative humidity.

The analysis included 51,486 patients with KD (58.2 percent boys). The annual average PM₁₀, PM_2.5, NO₂, SO₂, and CO concentrations decreased during the study period (from 2007 to 2019), whereas the annual average O₃ concentration increased. The mean NO₂, SO₂, and O₃ were 26.34, 4.92, and 37.40 ppb, respectively, while the mean CO was 0.64 ppm.

An interquartile range increase (14.67 μg/m³) in PM ≤2.5 µm showed a positive associated with KD at lag 1 (odds ratio [OR], 1.016, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.004–1.029). Furthermore, an interquartile range increase (2.79 ppb) in SO₂ concentration was associated with KD at all lag days (OR, 1.018, 95 percent CI, 1.002–1.034 at lag 0; OR, 1.022, 95 percent CI, 1.005–1.038 at lag 1; OR, 1.017, 95 percent CI, 1.001–1.033 at lag 2).

The results were consistent in the second scenario of different fever onset, two‐pollutant model, and sensitivity analyses.