Geographic differences of Asian dust health effect in East Asian countiresn

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25860462
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Hygiene and public health
• Research Institution: Hiroshima University
• Principal Investigator: Kashima Saori 広島大学, 医歯薬保健学研究院, 助教 (30581699)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 大気汚染 / 黄砂 / 循環器系疾患 / 呼吸器系疾患 / 救急搬送 / 死亡 / 健康影響

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We aimed to evaluate the impact of Asian dust on mortality and disease onset in East Asian countries. While desert dust may modify the associations between anthropogenic air pollution and health outcomes, and it may also induce direct effects on human health. We evaluated the potential double role of Asian dust.
We then found that Asian dust had adverse effects on all-cause, circulatory, and respiratory morbidity and modified the effect of SPM on circulatory and respiratory disease. In addition, adverse health effects on all-cause and cerebrovascular disease mortality were observed in South Korea and Japan. However, the effects of Asian dust differed across the cities and adverse effects were more apparent in cities closer to Asian dust sources.
To efforts towards reducing the adverse health effects caused by transboundary pollutants, local air pollution policies, such as setting up Asian dust monitoring sites, should be considered in connection with regional policies.

Free Research Field

環境保健