Study on the Interrelationship of Air Pollution and Respiratory Diseases in Inchon City Via Children Who Visited the Emergency Room of Inha University Hospital

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: It is generally accepted that air pollution can cause acute respiratory diseases. This study assessed the relationship between air pollution and development of pediatric respiratory diseases in Inchon city. METHODS: We studied a number of pediatric patients who developed respiratory diseases such as bronchial asthma, bronchiolitis, URI, bronchitis and pneumonia and visited the Inha University Hospital emergency room from January to December 31 1997. We converted the data into an average per day that included meteorologic data of air pollution(such as CO, NO2, O3, SO2, and PM10) and weather data(such as atmospheric temperature, relative humidity) in three different places in Inchon city. We used a Poisson distribution, selecting a lowess statistics model. We also used the S-Plus statistics program. RESULTS: After several variables were controlled, we determined the relative risks between the incidence of pediatric respiratory diseases and air pollutants as CO=0.92, NO2=1.12, 03=1.21, SO2= 1.04, and PM10=1.00. The 95% confidence intervals were CO=0.88-0.19, NO2=1.05-1.14, O3=1.09- 1.28, SO2=1.07-1.31, and PM10=1.01-1.05. CONCLUSION: There was a significant association between the incidence of pediatric respiratory diseases and the level of air pollutants, especially NO2, O3, SO2, and PMio in Inchon city. More studies on air pollution and its effect on pediatric respiratory diseases are needed.