(Image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — A new study has revealed that people who live in areas with high fine dust levels have pulmonary functions that are significantly lower than normal.
Seoulites were found to 3.48 percent lower lung capacity than their Jeju counterparts, who are exposed to less fine dust.
This is according to a study by Professor Kim Byoung-gwon and his research team that was published yesterday in the international journal Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
Kim’s research team compared the pulmonary functions of 830 Korean adults aged 19 and above, residing in Seoul or Jeju based on a nutrition survey performed nationally between 2007 and 2009.
The fine dust levels in both locations were also considered to find a possible correlation between fine dust and pulmonary functions.
The average fine dust density levels over a period of 15 years (1995 to 2009) was much higher in Seoul (64.87㎍/㎥) than Jeju (40.80㎍/㎥).
In order to compare the pulmonary functions of survey participants in both regions, the research team compared each group’s forced vital capacity (FVC) to forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1).
Forced vital capacity (FVC) is the volume of air that can forcibly be blown out after full inspiration while FEV1 is the volume of air forcibly blown out in one second after full inspiration.
Results showed that Seoul residents had a significantly lower FVC than the Jeju residents, at 3.48 percent on average. Such characteristics were especially prominent in men compared to women.
Men in Seoul had lower levels of FVC and FEV1 than Jeju males by 6.99 percent and 5.11 percent, respectively.
The research team concluded that the pulmonary function of Seoulites was lower than that of the Jeju population because of damage to the lungs brought on by prolonged periods of fine dust exposure.
In actuality, a separate study published earlier illustrated how fine dust had contributed to the rise in lung cancer rates.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
