The association between pneumothorax onset and meteorological parameters and air pollution

The aim of this study was to investigate the possible relation of meteorological parameters and air pollutant particle concentrations with the incidence of spontaneous pneumothorax in the Bolu region of Turkey.

Between January 2015 and February 2019, a total of 200 patients (175 males, 25 females; mean age 42.5±19.9 years, range, 10 to 88 years) with spontaneous pneumothorax were retrospectively analyzed. For each day, standard weather parameters including daily average temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, actual pressure, and daily total precipitation and concentration of air pollutants (PM₁₀ and SO₂) were recorded.

During the study period, there were 200 cases with spontaneous pneumothorax within 178 days. The number of days with spontaneous pneumothorax represented 11.8% of the total number of days (1,504 days). In the study, 76.9% of the days with spontaneous pneumothorax were clustered. All meteorological (temperature, humidity, pressure, wind speed, and precipitation) and air pollution parameters (PM10 a nd SO₂) were available for 1,438 days (95.61%) and 853 days (56.71%), respectively. There was a significant relationship between spontaneous pneumothorax and air temperature (r=-0.094, p=0.001), and air pollution (PM10, r=-0.080, p=0.020; SO₂, r=-0.067, p=0.045).

Our study results show a relationship between spontaneous pneumothorax and air temperature, and air pollution. Preventing air pollution, which is a public health problem, can lead to a reduction in spontaneous pneumothorax.