Association between long-term exposure to ambient air pollutants and mortality rates because of circulatory and respiratory diseases in South Korea

Background : Associations between long-term exposure to common air pollutants including nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), ozone, and particulate matter (PM 10 ) and health consequences have been studied. We investigated spatial effects of exposure to air pollution on mortality by circulatory and respiratory diseases nation-wide and in metropolitan. Methods: Means of daily concentration of the common air pollutants from 2005 to 2016 were calculated by district unit using linear interpolation. Age-standardized mortality rates of people suffering from heart disease (HD); cerebrovascular disease (CVD); ischemic heart disease (IHD); pneumonia (PN) and chronic lower respiratory disease (CLRD) were acquired from population census data. Sub-divided comparisons were performed to adjust spatial heterogeneity. Pearson’s correlation coefficients between mortality rates and air pollutant concentrations were investigated. Multivariable linear regressions were performed to investigate associations considering confounding factors. Results: Air pollutant concentration in metropolitan was the highest, except SO 2 ; in particular, PM 10 concentration was higher than air quality standard (PM 10 : 55.27 µg/m 3 , air quality standard: 50.00 µg/m 3 , P