Effects of Air Pollutions on Bronchial Asthma

For Investigation of effects of air pollutions on bronchial asthma, allergic tests were carried out on asthmatic patients, which were divieded into three group by the concentration of SO_2 in the place where the patient was living. Allergic tests included allrgen skin tests, eosinophil levels in blood, serum immunoglobulin levels, age at onset, types of asthma, and forms of asthma attack. There was no difference in allergens causing bronchial asthma and in the type of asthma among three areas. Asthmatic patients who began to have the symptoms after age of forty were more frequent in polluted area than in non-polluted area. The number of patients with perennial typed asthma in polluted area were more than that in non-polluted area. Twenty-one cases of 29 patients with bronchial asthma had an eosinophilia more than 6 per cent. Patients with an eosinophilia more than 10 per cent were more frequent in polluted area than in non-polluted. There were no signficant differences in serum immunoglobulin levels, IgG, IgA, IgM, IgE, among three area, however serum IgE levels of patients in allergic group higher than that in non-allergic group. The results suggested that air pollution might effect on bronchial asthma as inducing and/or worsening factor, not as causative factor.