Air pollution and daily mortality in Inchon, Korea

Yun Chul Hong, Jong Han Leem, Eun Hee Ha

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

The association between total daily mortality and air pollution was investigated for a 1-year period (January 1995 to December 1995) in Inchon, Korea. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relative importance of particulate and gaseous air pollution as predictors of daily mortality. Concentration of total suspended particulates (TSP), inhalable particles (PM10), and gaseous pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide, were measured daily during the study period. A generalized additive model was used to regress daily death counts on each air pollutant, controlling for time trend and meteorologic influences such as temperature or relative humidity. Total mortality was found to increase 1.2% (95% Cl: 0.2 to 2.2%) for each 10 μg/m3 increase in 6-day moving average of TSP, and 1.2% (95% Cl 0.2 to 2.1%) for each 10 μ/m3 increase in 5-day moving average of PM10. The association is similar in magnitude to associations between particulate air pollution and mortality found in several other communities in America and Europe. Associations with gaseous pollutants were all statistically insignificant in the generalized additive model. The relative risk of death increased at particulate levels that were well below the current Korean Ambient Air Quality Standard.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)239-244
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Korean Medical Science
Volume14
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1999

Keywords

  • Air pollution
  • Carbon monoxide
  • Gases
  • Mortality
  • Nitrogen dioxide
  • Ozone
  • Particle size

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