Hugg Timo T, Hjort Jan, Antikainen Harri, Rusanen Jarmo, Tuokila Mirkka, Korkonen Sanna, Weckström Jan, Jaakkola Maritta S, Jaakkola Jouni J K
Center for Environmental and Respiratory Health Research, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
Medical Research Center Oulu, University of Oulu, Oulu University Hospital and University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
PLoS One. 2017 Oct 12;12(10):e0186348. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0186348. eCollection 2017.
Little is known about the levels of exposure to grass pollen in urban environments. We assessed the spatio-temporal variation of grass pollen concentrations and the role of urbanity as a determinant of grass pollen exposure in the Helsinki Metropolitan area. We monitored grass pollen concentrations in 2013 at 16 sites during the peak pollen season by using rotorod-type samplers at the breathing height. The sites were in the cities of Helsinki and Espoo, Finland, and formed city-specific lines that represented urban-rural gradient. The monitoring sites were both visually and based on land use data ranked as high to low (graded 1 to 8) pollen area. The lowest grass pollen concentrations were observed in the most urban sites compared to the least urban sites (mean 3.6 vs. 6.8 grains/m3 in Helsinki; P<0.0001, and 5.2 vs. 87.5 grains/m3 in Espoo; P<0.0001). Significant differences were observed between concentrations measured in morning periods compared to afternoon periods (4.9 vs. 5.4 in Helsinki, P = 0.0186, and 21.8 vs. 67.1 in Espoo, P = 0.0004). The mean pollen concentration increased with decreasing urbanity both in Helsinki (0.59 grains/m3 per urbanity rank, 95% CI 0.25-0.93) and Espoo (8.42, 6.23-10.61). Pollen concentrations were highest in the afternoons and they were related to the ambient temperature. Urbanity was a strong and significant determinant of pollen exposure in two Finnish cities. Pollen exposure can periodically reach such high levels even in the most urban environments that can cause allergic reactions among individuals with allergies.
人们对城市环境中草花粉的暴露水平知之甚少。我们评估了赫尔辛基大都市区草花粉浓度的时空变化以及城市化作为草花粉暴露决定因素的作用。在2013年花粉高峰期，我们使用呼吸高度的旋转棒式采样器在16个地点监测草花粉浓度。这些地点位于芬兰的赫尔辛基和埃斯波市，形成了代表城乡梯度的特定城市线路。监测地点根据视觉和土地利用数据从高到低（分为1至8级）划分为花粉区域。与城市化程度最低的地点相比，城市化程度最高的地点草花粉浓度最低（赫尔辛基分别为3.6粒/立方米和6.8粒/立方米；P<0.0001，埃斯波分别为5.2粒/立方米和87.5粒/立方米；P<0.0001）。上午时段和下午时段测量的浓度之间存在显著差异（赫尔辛基分别为4.9和5.4，P = 0.0186，埃斯波分别为21.8和67.1，P = 0.0004）。在赫尔辛基（每个城市化等级增加0.59粒/立方米，95%置信区间0.25 - 0.93）和埃斯波（8.42，6.23 - 10.61），平均花粉浓度均随着城市化程度的降低而增加。花粉浓度在下午最高，且与环境温度有关。城市化是芬兰两个城市花粉暴露的一个强有力且显著的决定因素。即使在城市化程度最高的环境中，花粉暴露也可能周期性地达到导致过敏个体出现过敏反应的高水平。
