The rates of clinic visits for itch and atopic dermatitis (AD) increased significantly among adults aged 65 years or older with short-term exposure to air pollution from a California wildfire, according to a research letter published online Oct. 26 in JAMA Network Open.

Raj P. Fadadu, from the University of California in San Francisco, and colleagues collected data from outpatient dermatology visits for AD or itch from Oct. 1, 2018, to Feb. 10, 2019 (including the period of the California Camp Fire), from Oct. 1, 2015, to Feb. 10, 2016 (control, no fires), and from Oct. 1, 2016, to Feb. 10, 2017 (control, no fires). A total of 5,529 adult visits for AD and 1,319 adult visits for itch were assessed for 3,448 unique patients.

The researchers found that for adults aged 65 years or older, the adjusted rate of clinic visits for itch during a week with a wildfire was 1.6 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.1 to 1.9) times the rates without a wildfire, for a zero-week lag; for adults aged 18 to 64 years, the corresponding rate was 1.1 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.8 to 1.7). For AD, the adjusted rate of clinic visits during a week with a wildfire was 1.4 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.1 to 1.9) times the rate for weeks without a wildfire for adults aged 65 years or older, for a zero-week lag. The corresponding rate was 1.1 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.0 to 1.3) for adults aged 18 to 64 years.

"As wildfires increase in frequency and intensity, it is important to provide clinical counseling and public health education targeted to older adults on the association of air pollution with skin health," the authors write.

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