The impact of atmospheric concentration of particulate matter ≤10 μm in diameter (PM10) continues to attract research attention. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of meteorological factors, including PM10 concentration, on epistaxis presentation in children and adults. We reviewed the data from 1557 days and 2273 cases of epistaxis between January 2015 and December 2019. Eligible patients were stratified by age into the children (age ≤17 years) and adult groups. The main outcome was the incidence and cumulative number of epistaxis presentations in hospital per day and month. Meteorological factors and PM10 concentration data were obtained from the Korea Meteorological Administration. Several meteorological factors were associated with epistaxis presentation in hospital; however, these associations differed between children and adults. Only PM10 concentration was consistently associated with daily epistaxis presentation in hospital among both children and adults. Additionally, PM10 concentration was associated with the daily cumulative number of epistaxis presentations in hospital in children and adults. Furthermore, the monthly mean PM10 concentration was significantly associated with the total number of epistaxis presentations in the corresponding month. PM10 concentration should be regarded as an important environmental factor that may affect epistaxis in both children and adults.

Background Research on gustatory dysfunction among older adults has been scarce relative to research on olfactory dysfunction, and the relationship between subjective and objective gustatory dysfunction has not been studied in detail. We aimed to evaluate whether subjective recognition of gustatory dysfunction correlates with objective diagnosis of gustatory dysfunction among older adults. Methods In this retrospective, cross-sectional study, we reviewed the medical records of 138 patients of ages ≥ 60 years for whom data were available on self-reported and objectively measured gustatory and olfactory function from January 2018 through April 2021 at a specialized smell/taste center of a single institution. We reviewed self-reported and measured outcomes of gustatory and olfactory function using patient data including clinical characteristics, including age, sex, smoking history, and medical history. Results We found that the subjective recognition of gustatory dysfunction does not correlate with the objective diagnosis of gustatory dysfunction based on the measured results of gustatory function tests. Subjective gustatory dysfunction, however, was correlated with subjective olfactory dysfunction. Among clinical and demographic characteristics, age and sex were significantly associated with measured gustatory function outcomes. Conclusion We suggest that subjective gustatory dysfunction underestimates objective dysfunction and recommend that older men with diminished olfactory function undergo gustatory function testing regardless of their self-reported gustatory function status.

Key points Microplastics were identified in nasal irrigations Polypropylenes, which were the main component of the nozzle, were commonly identified Additional studies are needed to understand the biological relevance of microplastics in nasal irrigations