Pulmonary Function and Its Influence Factors of Residents in Yeosu Industrial Complex

Objectives: This study is aimed at identifying the influential factors on the pulmonary function of ordinary residents in the surrounding areas of Yeosu Industrial Complex. Methods: The PFT (Pulmonary Function Test) was conducted on the target residents numbering 989 people (male 361, female 628). The exposed group (813 people) resided within the radius of 5km from Yeosu Industrial Complex and the control group (176 people) resided in the radius of more than 15 km from May 2007 to November 2007. The survey also took into account other factors including personal characteristics, life habits, respiratory diseases and allergic symptoms, medical histories, and the living environments of the residents in order to further identify influential factors on pulmonary function. Result: When comparing the PFT values of the exposure groups to the control group of the same city, values of the exposure groups were meaningfully lower with an %FEV1 of 107.05% and %FVC of 100.28%. Conversely, the control group reported an %FEV1 and %FVC of 107.26% and 102.85% respectively, indicating that ambient air pollutants reduce lung function. The odds ratio of asthma diagnosis history increased when a subjects residence was close to a heavily trafficked road, traffic amount was huge, a bed was used, and the family had less than four members. However the results were not statistically meaningful. The odds ratios of abnormal pulmonary function were statistically higher among those with asthma(OR=4.29, CI=1.75-10.56), wheezing (OR=2.59, CI=1.24-5.41), and nasal congestion (OR=2.87, CI=1.36-6.08) (p<0.01). The factors affecting FEV1 were symptoms including asthma, passive smoking and allergic eye disease (R2=0.049, p<0.001). For the FVC symptoms including asthma (R2=0.014, p<0.001) were measured. The analysis showed that FVC decreased with increases in O3 and CO(p<0.01). Furthermore, FEV1 decreased with increases in O3(p<0.01). Conclusions: These results will provide preliminary data for establishing responsive measures to protect the health of residents in industrial complexes from air pollution, and to develop lasting environmental health policies