Pediatr Allergy Respir Dis.  2001 Dec;11(4):354-362.

Relationship of Air Pollution and Pediatric Respiratory Diseases in Incheon City

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Inha University, Incheon, Korea.
  • 2Department of Industrial Medicine, College of Medicine, Inha University, Incheon, Korea.

Abstract

PURPOSE
It is generally accepted that the air pollution can cause acute respiratory diseases. This study was undertaken to investigate the relationship between the increase in the level of air pollutants and hospital visits for pediatric respiratory diseases in Incheon city.
METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of pediatric patients who visited the outpatient department(OPD) of Inha University Hospital for respiratory diseases(such as bronchial asthma, pneumonia, bronchitis, bronchiolitis and URI) from January 1 to December 31 1997. We converted the data into an average per day that included meteorologic data of air pollution(such as O3, CO, SO2, NO2, and PM10) and weather data(such as atmospheric temperature, relative humidity) in three different places in Incheon city. We used a Poisson distribution, selecting a lowess statistics model. We also used the S-PLUS statistics program.
RESULTS
Ozone(O3), CO, and SO2 were all found to have significant associations with the OPD visits for pediatric respiratory diseases. After meteorologic variables(such as CO, SO2, NO2, PM10, atmospheric temperature, and relative humidity) controlled, we determined the relative risk between the increase in the OPD visits for respiratory diseases and every 0.01 ppm increase in O3. The relative risk was 1.16 and the 95% confidence intervals were 1.12-1.20.
CONCLUSION
There was a significant relationship between the incidence of pediatric respiratory diseases and the increase in the level of air pollutants, especially O3, CO, and SO2 in Incheon city. Further studies on the effects of continuous daily exposure to low or ambient levels of air pollutants are needed.

Keyword

Air pollution; Pediatric respiratory diseases

MeSH Terms

Air Pollutants
Air Pollution*
Asthma
Bronchiolitis
Bronchitis
Humans
Incheon*
Incidence
Medical Records
Outpatients
Pneumonia
Retrospective Studies
Weather
Air Pollutants
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