Tuberc Respir Dis.  2015 Oct;78(4):326-335. 10.4046/trd.2015.78.4.326.

The Influence of Asian Dust, Haze, Mist, and Fog on Hospital Visits for Airway Diseases

• Park J
• Lim MN
• Hong Y
• Kim WJ

• KMID: 2320701
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4046/trd.2015.78.4.326

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Asian dust is known to have harmful effects on the respiratory system. Respiratory conditions are also influenced by environmental conditions regardless of the presence of pollutants. The same pollutant can have different effects on the airway when the air is dry compared with when it is humid. We investigated hospital visits for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma in relation to the environmental conditions.
METHODS
We conducted a retrospective study using the Korean National Health Insurance Service claims database of patients who visited hospitals in Chuncheon between January 2006 and April 2012. Asian dust, haze, mist, and fog days were determined using reports from the Korea Meteorological Administration. Hospital visits for asthma or COPD on the index days were compared with the comparison days. We used two-way case-crossover techniques with one to two matching.
RESULTS
The mean hospital visits for asthma and COPD were 59.37 +/- 34.01 and 10.04 +/- 6.18 per day, respectively. Hospital visits for asthma significantly increased at lag0 and lag1 for Asian dust (relative risk [RR], 1.10; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01-1.19; p<0.05) and haze (RR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.06-1.22; p<0.05), but were significantly lower on misty (RR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.80-0.99; p<0.05) and foggy (RR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.84-0.93; p<0.05) days than on control days. The hospital visits for COPD also significantly increased on days with Asian dust (RR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.05-1.59; p<0.05), and were significantly lower at lag4 for foggy days, compared with days without fog (RR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.75-0.97; p<0.05).
CONCLUSION
Asian dust showed an association with airway diseases and had effects for several days after the exposure. In contrast to Asian dust, mist and fog, which occur in humid air conditions, showed the opposite effects on airway diseases, after adjusting to the pollutants. It would require more research to investigate the effects of various air conditions on airway diseases.

Keyword

Dust; Asthma; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive; Fog

MeSH Terms

Asian Continental Ancestry Group*
Asthma
Dust*
Gangwon-do
Humans
Korea
National Health Programs
Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive
Respiratory System
Retrospective Studies
Weather*
Dust

Figure

• 

  Figure 1 Relative risk for airway disease. COPD: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

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