rewrite this title How climate change is making hay fever more miserable

Warmer temperatures make for longer and more intense pollen seasons and more severe hay fever symptoms. New research indicates these changes are already contributing to rising rates of hay fever.

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

There’s discouraging news for seasonal allergy sufferers – climate change is making for longer and more intense pollen seasons and more severe symptoms. Here’s NPR’s Maria Godoy.

MARIA GODOY, BYLINE: Back when she was in her first year of medical school at George Washington University, Alisha Pershad would shadow other doctors at the ear, nose and throat clinic. She quickly noticed a trend among hay fever sufferers.

ALISHA PERSHAD: I would hear people in clinic talk about how their symptoms had been getting worse. It was a very common complaint that I saw firsthand. And, more importantly, I saw how much it impacted those patients’ quality of life.

GODOY: Including missed days of school and work. Pershad wanted a better understanding of just how climate change was affecting what she was seeing in the clinic. So she and her colleagues reviewed dozens of studies, looking at the impact of climate change on seasonal allergies around the globe. The review appears in the journal The Laryngoscope.

PERSHAD: We are seeing that with rising global temperatures as a result of climate change, that pollen seasons are lengthening. So they are starting earlier and ending later.

GODOY: For example, one study found the pollen season had already gotten 20 days longer in North America between 1990 and 2018. Another study projected that by the end of the century, warming temperatures would bring blooms as many as 40 days sooner in the spring and keep weeds and grasses releasing pollen up to 19 days later in the fall. Several studies also found an increase in the average daily concentration of pollen, which might not surprise those of us used to seeing our cars coated in yellow dust at this time of year.

PERSHAD: And we are also seeing that with those rising temperatures, things like ragweed pollen are growing faster and growing more. And so the presence of that pollen is more abundant.

GODOY: All of which means more misery for those with pollen allergies.

PERSHAD: They’re having more symptoms, earlier symptoms and worse symptoms.

GODOY: Research also shows the number of people with seasonal allergies is rising, and they’re visiting the doctor more. One study found people in the U.S. spend $3.4 billion each year on medical costs for things like prescription medications and outpatient visits. Pershad says all this research brings home just how many ways climate change can affect our daily lives – not to mention our sinuses.

Maria Godoy, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.