Asthma Symptoms in Children 5 Years after the Hebei Spirit Oil Spill

Abstract

Asthma Symptoms in Children 5 Years after the Hebei Spirit Oil SpillAbstract Number:2331 Jung Ah Kim*, Su Ryeon Noh, Eun Kyoung Yang, Gwi Heum Eom, Young-Hyun Choi, Mina Ha, and Hae-Kwan Cheong Jung Ah Kim* Taean Environmental Health Center, Korea, E-mail Address: [email protected] Search for more papers by this author , Su Ryeon Noh Taean Environmental Health Center, Korea, E-mail Address: [email protected] Search for more papers by this author , Eun Kyoung Yang Taean Environmental Health Center, Korea, E-mail Address: [email protected] Search for more papers by this author , Gwi Heum Eom Taean Environmental Health Center, Korea, E-mail Address: [email protected] Search for more papers by this author , Young-Hyun Choi Taean Environmental Health Center, Korea, E-mail Address: [email protected] Search for more papers by this author , Mina Ha Dankook University College of Medicine, Korea, E-mail Address: [email protected] Search for more papers by this author , and Hae-Kwan Cheong Sungkyuonkwan University School of Medicine, Korea, E-mail Address: [email protected] Search for more papers by this author AbstractBackground:* It was shown that respiratory symptoms in children were existed at the point of 1.5 and 3 years after the Hebei Spirit oil spill accident. *Aims:* This second follow-up survey was conducted to check children in affected area still has asthma symptoms related to oil spill exposure 5 years after the accident.Methods:* A total 531 elementary school students in affected town participated for the study. Information of asthma symptoms and asthma diagnosis were obtained by International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire. The same questionnaire tool was used in the baseline and the first follow-up survey.Results:* The prevalence of asthma symptoms in children was twice higher than the nationwide results of Korea. Reported symptoms were as follows: 24.1% vs. 10.5% for ever wheezing, 13.7% vs. 4.7% for wheezing in the last 12 months, and 12.6% vs. 7.8% for asthma ever diagnosed by a doctor. The prevalence of ever wheezing in children visited to the accident area within 1 month, 1 year and non-visited after the accident showed significant difference (33.1%, 28.4% and 18.5%; p=0.01). We evaluated the time of children’s visit to accident area as a exposure parameter instead of clean-up activity, because they were too young to clean-up when the oil spill occurred 5 years ago.Conclusions:* We found that children’s asthma symptoms are still related to oil spill exposure even 5 years later. Children are very sensitive to the environmental disaster. Following study should be conducted to determine the additional influence of oil spill, ultimately it can lead to call for regulation on vulnerable population.