If you've been exposed to tobacco smoke, you may be more likely to need your allergy meds

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-04-21 01:00

Australia; International; QLD

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Exposure to tobacco smoke may trigger the need to use allergy and asthma medication, according to a wastewater study by Australian and international authors. The team tested the wastewater of a town with a population of about 500,000 in Southern China to try and measure whether ambient air pollution and exposure to tobacco smoke impacted the amount of allergy and asthma medications used within the town. They say while days of high air pollution were not associated with increased levels of medications in the wastewater, there were associations between biomarkers of exposure to tobacco smoke and higher usage of the medications. This means reducing exposure to smoking could help people manage their allergies, the researchers add.