Department of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Department of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Institute of Environmental Medicine, Seoul National University Medical Research Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Environmental Health Center, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Environ Int. 2018 May;114:288-296. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2018.02.045. Epub 2018 Mar 8.
The first ferronickel manufacturing factory of the Republic of Korea was opened in Gwangyang City on October, 23rd, 2008. There has been public concern regarding heavy metal dust blown from the factory and slag disposal site. Therefore, we evaluated the health impact of the ferronickel factory on Gwangyang City residents by using interrupted time series analysis. We analyzed the monthly incidence patterns of asthma, allergic rhinitis, and dermatitis in Gwangyang City residents from 2004 to 2014. Data were gathered from the National Health Insurance Service database which covers all the hospital use data of entire city residents. Seasonality adjusted quasi-Poisson regression model was used to evaluate whether the operation of the ferronickel factory was associated with the immediate changes in the monthly disease incidence patterns. We set a control region, Yeosu City, near Gwangyang City to ensure that the changes in the disease incidence were specific to Gwangyang City. We conducted sub-regional level analysis to evaluate whether the disease incidence patterns were affected by the distance from the ferronickel factory. The risk estimates after operation of the ferronickel factory showed an abrupt increase in the monthly incidence of unspecified dermatitis [RR (95% CI), 1.75 (1.17-2.60)] and vasomotor and allergic rhinitis [RR (95% CI), 1.23 (1.08-1.39)] in men, and pruritus [RR (95% CI), 1.95 (1.51-2.52)], unspecified dermatitis [RR (95% CI), 1.65 (1.04-2.60)], and vasomotor and allergic rhinitis [RR (95% CI), 1.17 (1.04-1.31)] in women. These findings were significant even after accounting for the changes of the corresponding disease incidence of the comparison city, Yeosu. The effects were greater in young children (aged 0-9) and sub-regions near the ferronickel factory. Our study suggests possible association between the operation of the ferronickel factory and an abrupt increase of pruritus, unspecific dermatitis, and vasomotor and allergic rhinitis in Gwangyang City residents.
2008 年 10 月 23 日，韩国第一家镍铁厂在光阳市开业。公众一直担心工厂和炉渣处理场吹来的重金属粉尘。因此，我们通过中断时间序列分析来评估镍铁厂对光阳市居民的健康影响。我们分析了 2004 年至 2014 年光阳市居民的哮喘、过敏性鼻炎和皮炎的每月发病模式。数据来自国家健康保险服务数据库，该数据库涵盖了全市所有居民的医院使用数据。使用季节调整后的拟泊松回归模型来评估镍铁厂的运营是否与每月疾病发病率模式的即时变化相关。我们设置了一个控制区，即离光阳市较近的丽水市，以确保疾病发病率的变化是特定于光阳市的。我们进行了分区水平分析，以评估疾病发病率模式是否受到与镍铁厂距离的影响。镍铁厂运营后的风险估计显示，男性不明原因性皮炎[RR（95%CI），1.75（1.17-2.60）]和血管舒缩性和过敏性鼻炎[RR（95%CI），1.23（1.08-1.39）]的每月发病率突然增加，妇女的瘙痒[RR（95%CI），1.95（1.51-2.52）]、不明原因性皮炎[RR（95%CI），1.65（1.04-2.60）]和血管舒缩性和过敏性鼻炎[RR（95%CI），1.17（1.04-1.31）]的每月发病率突然增加。即使考虑到比较城市丽水相应疾病发病率的变化，这些发现仍然具有统计学意义。在年幼的儿童（0-9 岁）和靠近镍铁厂的分区中，影响更大。我们的研究表明，镍铁厂的运营可能与光阳市居民瘙痒、不明原因性皮炎和血管舒缩性和过敏性鼻炎的突然增加有关。
