Pollen counts and their relationship to meteorological factors in Ankara, Turkey during 2005–2008 Ilginc Kizilpinar & Ersoy Civelek & Ayfer Tuncer & Cahit Dogan & Erdem Karabulut & Umit M. Sahiner & S. Tolga Yavuz & Cansin Sackesen Received: 5 April 2010 / Revised: 30 August 2010 / Accepted: 2 September 2010 / Published online: 15 October 2010 # ISB 2010 Abstract Pollen plays an important role in the develop- ment and exacerbation of allergic diseases. We aimed to investigate the days with highest counts of the most allergenic pollens and to identify the meteorological factors affecting pollen counts in the atmosphere of Ankara, Turkey. Airborne pollen measurements were carried out from 2005 to 2008 with a Burkard volumetric 7-day spore trap. Microscope counts were converted into atmospheric concentrations and expressed as pollen grains/m 3 . Mete- orological parameters were obtained from the State Meteorological Service. All statistical analyses were done with pollen counts obtained from March to October for each year. The percentages of tree, grass and weed pollens were 72.1% (n =24,923), 12.8% (n =4,433) and 15.1% (n = 5,219), respectively. The Pinaceae family from tree taxa (39% to 57%) and the Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae family from weed taxa, contributed the highest percentage of pollen (25% to 43%), while from the grass taxa, only the Poaceae family was detected from 2005 to 2008. Poaceae and Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae families, which are the most allergenic pollens, were found in high numbers from May to August in Ankara. In multiple logistic regression analysis, wind speed (OR=1.18, CI95%=1.02–1.36, P =0.023) for tree pollen, daily mean temperature (OR=1.10, CI95%=1.04–1.17, P =0.001) and sunshine hours (OR=1.15, CI95%=1.01–1.30, P =0.033) for grass pollen, and sunshine hours (OR= 3.79, CI95%=1.03–13.92, P =0.044) for weed pollen were found as significant risk factors for high pollen count. The pollen calendar and its association with meteorological factors depend mainly on daily tempera- ture, sunshine hours and wind speed, which may help draw the attention of physicians and allergic patients to days with high pollen counts. Keywords Allergy . Grass . Meteorology . Pollen . Tree . Weed Introduction Aerobiology is the science dealing with the biological particles carried passively by airflow in the atmosphere. I. Kizilpinar : C. Dogan Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey I. Kizilpinar e-mail: kizilpinar@gmail.com C. Dogan e-mail: cdogan@hacettepe.edu.tr E. Civelek : A. Tuncer : U. M. Sahiner : S. T. Yavuz : C. Sackesen (*) Department of Pediatric Allergy and Asthma, Faculty of Medicine, Hacettepe University, 06100 Ankara, Turkey e-mail: csackesen@yahoo.com E. Civelek e-mail: ersoycivelek@gmail.com A. Tuncer e-mail: tuncerayfer@yahoo.com U. M. Sahiner e-mail: umsahner@yahoo.com S. T. Yavuz e-mail: styavuz@yahoo.com E. Karabulut Department of Biostatistics, School of Medicine, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey e-mail: ekarabul@hacettepe.edu.tr Int J Biometeorol (2011) 55:623–631 DOI 10.1007/s00484-010-0363-8