Association between long-term exposure of ambient air pollutants and cardiometabolic diseases: A 2012 Korean Community Health Survey

Background and aim

The associations of long-term exposure to particulate matter <10 μm in size (PM₁₀), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), and ozone (O₃) with cardiometabolic diseases (CMD) remain uncertain in the Korean population. Therefore, we sought to examine the associations between PM₁₀, NO₂, CO, SO₂, and O₃ and CMD using data collected from the Korean Community Health Survey.

Methods and results

We selected 100,867 adults aged 19 years or older who had lived in the same domicile for ≥10 years and surveyed them to collect data on socioeconomic characteristics; health-related behaviors; obesity; and physician-diagnosed CMD history, including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, stroke, myocardial infarction, and ischemic heart disease. We calculated interquartile ranges for PM₁₀, NO₂, CO, SO₂, and O₃ from the 10 year average concentrations (2003–2012). Hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and dyslipidemia were positively associated with PM₁₀, NO₂, CO, SO₂, and O₃ after adjusting for confounding factors. Obesity was positively associated with PM₁₀, NO₂, SO₂, and O₃. On the other hand, we found no associations between stroke, myocardial infarction, and ischemic heart disease and exposure to PM₁₀, NO₂, CO, SO₂, and O₃ in these subjects. In subjects aged ≥65 years, the risk of dyslipidemia was markedly increased under exposure to NO₂ and CO compared to subjects aged <65 years. The risk of obesity was also significantly increased under exposure to PM₁₀ and NO₂. However, sex differences in these associations were not found.

Conclusion

Long-term exposure to PM₁₀, NO₂, CO, SO₂, and O₃ may be a risk factor of CMD in Korean adults.