As health damage caused by air pollution has emerged as a social problem worldwide, the necessity of study on the health impact of air pollution the realistically reflects the regional levels is increasing in Korea. However, existing studies have been...
As health damage caused by air pollution has emerged as a social problem worldwide, the necessity of study on the health impact of air pollution the realistically reflects the regional levels is increasing in Korea. However, existing studies have been conducted by considering only the factors attributable to health decisions at the individual level, but in reality these health effects can affect the local level, such as the socioeconomic and environmental characteristics of a group to which an individual belongs.
Therefore, in this study, to observe health determinants before exposure to air pollution, a multi-level model was used to identify health gaps at the regional level. Also, it was intended to observe the health effects of mid- and long-term exposure to air pollution, taking into account both the characteristics of individual and the area in which the individual resides.
In this study, a rural-based cohort of KoGES conducted from 2005 to 2017 was used, and meteorological indices and air quality data-based calculated using Community Multiscale Air Quality Modeling due to the absence of a domestic air pollution monitoring sites were used. Factors influencing hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and metabolic syndrome at individual and regional level using social deprivation index of Yangpyeong, Namwon, Goryeong, Wonju, Pyeongchang, and Ganghwa regions conducted up to the base survey and the 4th follow-up survey.
To evaluate the risk of cardiometabolic disease through follow-up, survival analysis was performed using the time-dependent Cox regression, and it was regarded as a repeated measurement investigation, and systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), fasting blood glucose (FBG), HDL-cholesterol (HDL), triglyceride (TG), and total cholesterol (TCHL) was observed using the Generalized Additive Mixed Model and Generalized Linear Mixed Model.
As a result of the study, it was confirmed that the risk of hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and metabolic syndrome differed at the regional level before the individual level. After considering both individual and local health determinants, the hazard ratio (HR) of hypertension per 100 ppb increment of carbon monoxide (CO) according to the moving average of 3 years ago, which has the greatest cumulative effect, was 1.48, diabetes was 1.37, dyslipidemia was 1.40, and metabolic syndrome was 1.20.
Changed in biomarkers due to mid-term exposure to air pollution were sensitive in subjects with cardiometabolic diseases. In subjects with hypertension, the level of SBP per 100 ppb increment of CO increased by 1.50 mmHg, and the level of DBP per 10 μg/m3 increment of PM10 increased by 0.80 mmHg. In subjects with diabetes, the level of FBG per 5 μg/m3 increment of PM2.5 increased by 1.16 mg/dL. In subjects with dyslipidemia, the level of TG per 10 μg/m3 increment of PM10 increased the most at 2.34 mg/dL, and HDL decreased the most at -2.93 mg/dL. The level of TCHL per 100 ppb increment of CO increased 2.99 mg/dL. Also, in subjects with metabolic syndrome, SBP increased the most at 3.80 mmHg, DBP was 2.33 mmHg, and FBG was 3.70 mg/dL in 5 μg/m3 increment of PM2.5. The level of HDL decreased at -2.22 mg/dL, TG increased at 3.08 mg/dL, and TCHL increased at 2.43 mg/dL per 10 μg/m3 increment of PM10.
Despite the various limitations of the current KoGES database, this study investigated the health behavioral and socio-economic factors resulting from cardiometabolic diseases at the individual and regional level using a rural-based cohort. It is significant in that it is the first cohort study to evaluated the risk of developing cardiometabolic disease.