Association between exposure to air pollutants and allergic diseases among residents near the Gwangyang industrial complex in Korea

Objective The purpose of this study is to characterize the levels of particulate matter (PM 10 ) and heavy metals (HMs) such as Cd and Pb, compare blood HMs (B-HMs) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels and examine the prevalence of allergic diseases among general population living near the Gwangyang industrial complex (GIC). Methods A survey and environmental and biomonitoring sample collection were done as part of a study involving 300 residents who were 20 years of age and older. To compare, the participants were split into two groups: those with physician-diagnosed allergic diseases (PDAD) and without physician-diagnosed allergic diseases (non-PDAD). ICP/MS and GF/AAS were used to measure the HMs in PM 10 and B-HMs. SPSS version v25.0 was used to analyze the data to identify risk factors between exposure and diseases. Results The levels of three air pollutants close to road transport (≤ 50 m) and industrial complex areas (≤ 5 km) were higher than those over 100 m and 15 km from each source. The GMs for the PDAD group were 0.97 μg/L in B-Cd and 1.04 μg/dL in serum hs-CRP, significantly higher than 0.86 μg/L and 0.71 μg/dL in the non-PDAD group. In the PDAD, the mean B-Pb in males was significantly higher than that in females. The mean B-Pb among locals close to the GIC area (≤ 5 km) was significantly higher than that over 15 km. We found several risk factors, including gender, daily average housing, and distance to road transport, were significantly related to the increased levels of B-HMs. Conclusions A significant association was found between higher levels of environmental exposure to PM 10 and HMs, B-HMs and hs-CRP levels with an increased prevalence of PDAD. This study provided the information required to carry out a risk assessment and take measures to mitigate the potential health risk in the GIC area.