Tanaka H, Honma S, Nishi M, Igarashi T, Nishio F, Abe S
Third Department of Internal Medicine, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine.
Intern Med. 1996 Feb;35(2):100-4. doi: 10.2169/internalmedicine.35.100.
Acid fog is a complex mixture of atomospheric pollutants containing multiple stimuli that may be capable of inducing bronchoconstriction. To investigate the effect of ambient acid fog on bronchoconstriction, we examined the relation between the hospital visit for asthma symptoms of 102 patients and various meteorological conditions for over the two-year period from January 1992 to December 1993. Dense fog occurs frequently every summer in Kushiro, a city located in Hokkaido, northernmost island in Japan. The acidity of the fog ranged from pH 3.32 to 6.91 (mean pH = 5.05) during this period. A significant increase (p < 0.05) of hospital visits on a foggy day was found in 9 cases, and a tendency (p < 0.10) was found in 10 cases. The odds ratio for a hospital visit on a high water vapor pressure day (> 12 h Pa) was significantly high (p < 0.01) in 5 cases among the above 19 cases. To exclude the effect of high water vapor pressure, the data was restricted to the condition of a foggy day with low water vapor pressure (< 12 hPa); 9 patients had a significant increase (p < 0.05) in hospital visits on such a day. These results indicated that hospital visits for asthma symptoms was increased on acid fog days in 8.8% of adult asthma patients. Inhalation of naturally occurring acid fog may have adverse effects on the respiratory tract of the asthmatic patient.
酸雾是一种大气污染物的复杂混合物，含有多种可能诱发支气管收缩的刺激物。为了研究环境酸雾对支气管收缩的影响，我们调查了1992年1月至1993年12月这两年期间102例患者因哮喘症状就诊与各种气象条件之间的关系。浓雾在日本最北部岛屿北海道的钏路市每年夏天频繁出现。在此期间，雾的酸度范围为pH 3.32至6.91（平均pH = 5.05）。在9例患者中发现雾天就诊人数显著增加（p < 0.05），10例患者有增加趋势（p < 0.10）。在上述19例患者中，有5例在高水汽压日（> 12 hPa）就诊的优势比显著较高（p < 0.01）。为排除高水汽压的影响，将数据限制在低水汽压（< 12 hPa）的雾天情况；9例患者在这样的日子就诊人数显著增加（p < 0.05）。这些结果表明，8.8%的成年哮喘患者在酸雾天因哮喘症状就诊人数增加。吸入自然形成的酸雾可能对哮喘患者的呼吸道产生不利影响。
