Exposure to air pollution concentrations of various intensities in early life and allergic sensitisation later in childhood.

Background: Evidence on the relationship between air pollution and allergic sensitisation in childhood is inconsistent, and this relationship has not been investigated in the context of smoke events that are predicted to increase with climate change. Thus, we aimed to evaluate associations between exposure in two early life periods to severe levels of particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 μm (PM) from a mine fire, background PM, and allergic sensitisation later in childhood.

Methods: We measured specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels for seven common aeroallergens as well as total IgE levels in a cohort of children who had been exposed to the Hazelwood coal mine fire, either in utero or during their first two years of life, in a regional area of Australia where ambient levels of PM are generally low. We estimated personal exposure to fire-specific emissions of PM based on a high-resolution meteorological and pollutant dispersion model and detailed reported movements of pregnant mothers and young children during the fire. We also estimated the usual background exposure to PM at the residential address at birth using a national satellite-based land-use regression model. Associations between both sources of PM and sensitisation to dust, cat, fungi, and grass seven years after the fire were estimated with logistic regression, while associations with total IgE levels were estimated with linear regression.

Results: No association was found between the levels of exposure at either developmental stage to fire-related PM and allergic sensitisation seven years after the event. However, levels of background exposure were positively associated with sensitisation to dust (OR = 1.90, 95%CI = 1.12,3.21 per 1 μg/m).

Conclusions: Chronic but low exposure to PM in early life could be more strongly associated with allergic sensitisation in childhood than time-limited high exposure levels, such as the ones experienced during landscape fires.