Respiratory health effects among schoolchildren and their relationship to air pollutants in Korea

Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between five air pollutants (PM₁₀, SO₂, NO₂, O₃, CO) measured on the daily basis, and adverse health symptoms using epidemiological surveillance data. The generalized estimated equation (GEE) model, a logistic regression analysis model, was used to estimate the effects of air pollution on children's daily health symptoms, focusing on the morbidity including both respiratory and allergic symptoms in four different cities. Analysis of the effects of each pollutant on children's respiratory and allergic symptoms demonstrated that CO affected all symptoms in all the study areas. When the concentration of SO₂ and NO₂ was elevated, upper respiratory symptoms increased significantly. In contrast, when the concentration of O₃ rose, the symptoms decreased significantly. The relationship between measured concentrations and health symptoms was site-dependent for each pollutant.

Keywords:

• air pollutants
• health symptoms
• schoolchildren
• panel study