Hot and dusty days increase diabetes hospitalization

Heat and particulate air pollution may increase risk of diabetes-related hospitalizations, according to a recent paper published in BMJ Open Diabetes Research and Care. The study, co-authored by Barrak Alahmad, research fellow at the Department of Environmental Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, is one of the first to look at the effects of multiple environmental exposures on the disease, and could have many implications for future research.

In Kuwait, where temperatures can reach up to 50°C (122°F) and dust storms are frequent, the research revealed that increased exposure to both heat and dust — either separately or together — heightens the risk of hospitalization for diabetes patients.

Kuwait presented a unique opportunity to study the effects of heat, dust, and air pollution together, yet as extreme heat becomes an issue globally, this study could be a precursor of things to come in other countries, including in the US.

Alahmad said that while the direct relevance of the study is for places that are hot and dusty, “Kuwait opens a window to a potential future, because we know that temperatures are increasing and the droughts are making dust storms more frequent in other parts of the world.”

As wildfires continue to be an issue in the western United States, Alahmad also sees parallels between those desert conditions and the smoke pollution that affected many people in the U.S. this summer. This research underlines how multiple environmental exposures occurring simultaneously, like wildfire smoke and hot days, can have an adverse impact on health.

The air quality data was collected by devices custom-made at Harvard to withstand the harsh conditions of Kuwait (see photo above). Alahmad explains, “These devices were made here in Boston, and were shipped to Kuwait, where we operated them for two years. Every day the samples were collected and shipped back to us in Boston. Then, here in our labs at Harvard Chan, we examined the composition of air pollution in Kuwait.”

The devices allowed Alahmad and his team to determine the type of pollution that was affecting air quality each day. “Many devices just give you a number (of airborne particulate matter concentration) for each day,” he said, which doesn’t allow researchers to know if the particles were from traffic, smoke, dust, or a combination.

“We cannot understand the total effect of the environment on individuals and populations unless we look at all aspects,” Alahmad said, “We can’t examine only one aspect of the environment at a time.”