Climate change and COPD severity: a pilot study in Taiwan

Abstract

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is an environmental lung disease and its disease stability is associated with seasonal variations. However, the impacts of climate change on COPD severity remain unclear. The objective of this study was to examine the association of climate change with COPD severity. A cross-sectional study in 117 COPD patients was conducted in a hospital in Taiwan. We measured the lung function, six-minute walk distance (6MWD), oxygen desaturation and white cell count and linked to lag 0-1, 0-3, and 0-5 year of individual-level exposure to relative humidity (RH) and temperature. We observed that 1% RH increase in lag 0-3 year and lag 0-5 year was associated with 4.2% and 3.7% increase in the FEV1, whereas 1oC temperature increase in lag 0-3 year and lag 0-5 year was associated with 3.9% and 4.5% decrease in the oxygen desaturation, respectively (P<0.05). We observed that 1% increase in the lag 0-1 year RH was associated with 0.3% increase in eosinophil and 1.7% increase in lymphocyte (P<0.05). In conclusion, we observed that climate change increased the risk of COPD severity. Climate change could be an important public health concern in terms of respiratory disease severity.