Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Wonju College of Medicine, Yonsei University, Wonju, Korea.
POSCO Health Promotion Center, Kwangyang, Korea.
Yonsei Med J. 2022 Aug;63(8):774-782. doi: 10.3349/ymj.2022.63.8.774.
The characteristic topography and climate often affect the occurrence of large-scale wildfires in the Eastern Gangwon-do region of Korea. However, there are no studies on the health effects of these wildfires in Korea. This study aimed to analyze the differences in medical use between a wildfire-affected area and an adjacent non-affected area before and after a wildfire in 2019 in Gangwon-do, Korea.
We used medical usage data from the Korean National Health Insurance Corporation. Rates of medical use were determined for citizens of a wildfire-affected area in the Eastern Yeongdong region and a non-affected area in the Western Yeongseo region. Logistic regression analysis was performed considering an increase in medical use per individual as a dependent variable; age, sex, income, smoking, drinking, and exercise were included as confounding variables.
The odds ratio for medical use in Yeongdong region increased significantly after 3 days, 3 months, and 1 year after a fire occurred, compared with Yeongseo region.
The results of this study confirmed that the use of medical care increased for residents of a wildfire-affected area, compared with those of an adjacent non-affected area. This is the first study on the relationship between wildfires and inpatient medical use in Korea.
韩国江原道东部地区的地形和气候特征常常会导致大规模野火的发生。然而，目前在韩国还没有关于这些野火对健康影响的研究。本研究旨在分析 2019 年江原道野火前后，一个受野火影响的地区和一个相邻的未受影响地区的医疗使用差异。
我们使用了韩国国民健康保险公司的医疗使用数据。对来自江原道东部荣洞地区的野火受灾地区居民和西部荣西地区的非受灾地区居民的医疗使用情况进行了评估。考虑到个体的医疗使用增加率作为因变量，采用逻辑回归分析；年龄、性别、收入、吸烟、饮酒和运动等作为混杂变量。
与荣西地区相比，火灾发生后 3 天、3 个月和 1 年，荣洞地区的医疗使用几率明显增加。
本研究结果证实，与相邻的未受灾地区相比，受灾地区居民的医疗保健使用率增加。这是韩国首例关于野火与住院医疗使用关系的研究。
