Clinical visits by patients suffering ocular surface eye conditions more than doubled during times when ambient particulate matter from air pollution was in the atmosphere, signaling a possible association between climate change and ocular health, according to a new study from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. The study, published Wednesday in the journal Clinical Ophthalmology , is among the first to look into how climate change may affect the eyes. "The World Health Organization has declared climate change to be "the single biggest health threat facing humanity," said the study's lead author Jennifer Patnaik, Ph.
D., MHS, assistant professor of epidemiology and ophthalmology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "Yet there are limited studies on the impact of climate change-related air pollution on ocular health.
" The researchers, including Associate Professor Katherine James, Ph.D., who directs the Climate & Human Health program at the Colorado School of Public Health, examined the associations between ocular surface irritation and allergy-related daily outpatient office visits with daily ambient particular matter (PM) levels in the Denver Metropolitan area.
They obtained data of PM concentrations that were 10 micrometers or less and 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter. The researchers found 144,313 ocular surface irritation and allergy visits to ophthalmic clinics during the study period.
The daily visit counts were 2.2 times higher than avera.
