The findings of the TAISAR study revealed that in individuals with a past diagnosis of thunderstorm asthma (TA) and/or seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR), the risk factors for TA encompassed non-optimally controlled asthma, and elevated levels of pollen-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels, eosinophil counts, and fractional exhaled nitric oxide.

This multicenter study was carried out to examine the risk factors for a history of TA and hospital presentation in a cohort of SAR patients. Individuals with a past diagnosis of TA and/or self-reported SAR were enrolled. For identifying the risk factors for a history of TA in SAR patients, estimation of white blood cell count, clinical information, spirometry results, fractional exhaled nitric oxide, ryegrass pollen-specific (RGP-sp) IgE concentration was done.

Out of 228 SAR people, 35% (80/228) reported SAR only (the I-SAR group), 37% (84/228) reported TA symptoms but had not visited hospital for medical care (the O-TA group), and 28% (64/228) had visited the hospital for TA (the H-TA group). In the H-TA group, all the candidates reported a prior asthma diagnosis. As per the logistic regression assessment of factors linked with O-TA and H-TA, lower FEV1 value and an Asthma Control Questionnaire score greater than 1.5 were linked with H-TA.

Raised blood RGP-sp IgE concentration, eosinophil counts, and fractional exhaled nitric oxide levels were substantially related to both H-TA and O-TA. According to receiver operating curve assessment, an RGP-sp IgE concentration of more than 10.1 kU/L and a prebronchodilator FEV1 value of 90% or lower were vital biomarkers of elevated risk of H-TA. In SAR adults, clinical tests can aid in the identification of risk of a history of TA and thereby guide patient-specific therapeutic recommendations.

Hence, doctors and patients must be aware that thunderstorms can elicit precipitation of asthma. Furthermore, people suffering from asthma and pollen allergies must evade outdoors during and after thunderstorms ensuing during pollen season.