Association Between Air Pollution and Prevalence of Allergic Rhinitis in Ulsan, Korea

Abstract

PP-29-037 Background/Aims: The effect of air pollution on allergic rhinitis is still not clearly understood. This study aims to investigate relationship between air pollution exposure and the prevalence of allergic rhinitis in young people in the industrial metropolitan area. Methods: Data on physician-diagnosed allergic rhinitis (past 12 month) were collected in a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 3722 infants and children (age, 1–18 years) in the Ulsan metropolitan area. All the residences of participants were georeferenced using a geographical information system to investigate the spatial relationship between air pollution and allergic rhinitis. To evaluate the risk of air pollution, annual pollution data obtained from 13 monitoring stations were linked with the prevalence data (n = 1450) within a 1.5- or 2-km radius of the stations. Results: Comparisons of spatial distributions of prevalence rates for allergic rhinitis and annual average pollutant concentrations over the region showed that the relatively high prevalence rate occurred around the coastal industrial area with high particulate matter (PM10) concentrations. A linear correlation analysis demonstrated the positive correlation relationship between PM10 levels and prevalence rates of allergic rhinitis (R = 0.680, P = 0.04). From the multiple logistic regression analysis after mutual adjustment by age, sex, and air-pollutant factors, PM10 and SO2 mainly from industrial-related emissions were found to be statistically significantly associated with physician-diagnosed allergic rhinitis (aOR: 1.06, 95% CI: 1.02–1.11 for PM10; aOR: 1.62, 95% CI: 1.12–2.34 for SO2). Conclusion: Exposure to high levels of industrial-related air pollutants can be an important environmental risk factor for allergic rhinitis in young people.