Influence of air pollutants on varicella among adults

Little attention has been paid to the relationship between air pollutants and varicella among adults. We used data collected in Qingdao, China from 2014 to 2019. A combination of quasi-Poisson generalized linear model (GLM) and distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM) was applied to evaluate the association between exposure to air pollutants and varicella. And the effects of exposure to extremely high concentration (at 97.5th percentile) and low concentration (at 2.5th percentile) of air pollutants on varicella were also calculated. The level II of GB3095-2012 was used as the reference. A 10 μg/m³ increase of PM_2.5 was significantly associated with an increased risk of varicella (lag day: 4, 5 and 6). The negative associations were found for NO₂ per 10 μg/m³ increase from lag 15 to 19 day. The high PM_2.5 concentration (135 μg/m³) was significantly associated with the increased risk of varicella (lag day: 6, 7). For NO₂, the negative association was found at high concentration (75 μg/m³) on lag 15 to 20 day; and the positive relationship was shown at low concentration (10 μg/m³) on lag 15 to 20 day. Exposure to PM_2.5 and NO₂ were significantly associated with the risk of varicella among adults.