Associations of pollen and cardiovascular disease morbidity in Atlanta during 1993–2018

Abstract

Pollen exposure is associated with substantial respiratory morbidity, but its potential impact on cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains less understood. This study aimed to investigate the associations between daily levels of 13 pollen types and emergency department (ED) visits for eight CVD outcomes over a 26-year period in Atlanta, GA. We acquired pollen data from Atlanta Allergy & Asthma, a nationally certified pollen counting station, and ED visit data from individual hospitals and the Georgia Hospital Association. We performed time-series analyses using quasi-Poisson distributed lag models, with primary analyses assessing 3-day (lag 0–2 days) pollen levels. Models controlled for temporally varying covariates, including air pollutants. During 1993–2018, there were 1,573,968 CVD ED visits. Most pairwise models of the 13 pollen types and eight CVD outcomes showed no association, with a few exceptions potentially due to chance. We found limited evidence of the impact of pollen on cardiovascular morbidity in Atlanta. Further study on pollen exposures in different climactic zones and exploration of pollen-pollution mixture effects is warranted.