The purpose of this study is to examine the regional particulate matter health effects from the ecological point of view and to provide the basis for establishing measures for regional adaptation to particulate matter health effects. The health effects of regional particulate matter were divided into deaths due to respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, cerebrovascular diseases and total deaths in municipal levels.
The results showed that the risk death due to respiratory diseases in Gyeongbuk, Chungbuk, Gangwon and Jeonbuk areas was higher than the national average. The risk of death due to cerebrovascular diseases in some areas such as Jeonbuk and Gyeongbuk areas was higher than the national average. The total mortality in the Jeonnam, Gyeongnam, Gyeongbuk, and Chungbuk provinces was higher than the national average, indicating that the risk of disease death varies according to the particulate matter-related disease.
As a result of examining the factors affecting the death of particulate matter-related diseases by region, unlike previous studies, respiratory disease mortality tended to decrease with increase of PM10 concentration, and disease mortality in cardiovascular disease was not affected by PM10. However, cerebrovascular disease mortality was associated with higher PM10 concentration. In PM2.5, respiratory disease mortality tended to decrease with increasing PM2.5 concentration as in PM10, but in case of cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease death, and total death, disease mortality was increased with increasing PM2.5 concentration, indicating that the particulate matter health effect was greater at PM2.5 than PM10. In addition, it was confirmed that the health effects of particulate matter may be different depending on the source of particulate matter in each region.
This study suggests that it is necessary to establish a countermeasure for the adaptation of particulate matter effect to the region considering the health effects of particulate matter, regional particulate matter emission sources and emissions.