CUR - The Council on Undergraduate Research

How Does Environmental Temperature Effect Eczema?

Kathy Le, and Dr. Katharine Kelsey, Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Denver, 1201 Larimer St, Denver, CO 80204

Inflammation of the skin can result in red, dry, scaly patches; this is a disease known as eczema. Research shows that different temperature thresholds and lengths of exposure to natural heat and cool dry air can trigger these types of inflammation. Therefore, my research question asks how does environmental temperature affect eczema? While there is some research exploring the relationship between eczema and environmental factors such as temperature, climate, and weather, this research area is still synthesizing climate change and its effects on eczema. I identified 10 studies using the following criteria: temperature or climate or weather AND atopic dermatitis or eczema as search terms on the Pubmed database, and manually filtering out studies that did not quantitatively assess the association of temperature and eczema. 80% of the articles answered indicate ambient temperature influences eczema symptoms. Within these studies, authors found both high and low temperatures affect eczema due to certain interactions in the climate such as geographic location, humidity, air pollutants, and seasonal differences. These articles point to several different mechanisms linking higher temperature to eczema. This meta-analysis of 10 articles provides a starting point to further explore how temperature affects eczema in different aspects of climate change. Future research will continue to explore the interactions among temperature, air quality and humidity as drivers of eczema.​

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