Association between traffic-related environmental factors and allergy symptoms for children

• Published in: International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology(IJACT) Vol. 8; no. 4; pp. 137 - 143
• Main Authors: 이효선, 한성민, 김소연
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 국제문화기술진흥원 31.12.2020
• Subjects: 과학기술학; gas station; geographic; allergy symptoms; children; main road
• ISSN: 2288-7202; 2288-7318

Traffic-related environmental factors (TREF) are a major problem in developed countries, leading to increased atopic sensitivity, allergy symptoms, and diseases. This study shows an association between traffic-related pollutants, distance of road and gas station from the children’s daycare center, and allergy symptoms. Data was obtained from the 2018 survey, an ongoing allergic diseases prevalence survey for children aged 4-7 (n=1175). This survey considered 36 public daycare centers, across 6 districts in Seoul. Allergic symptoms were defined as the presence of at least 1 or more allergic diseases (International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC)). TREF was derived from the distance to the nearest main roads and gas stations. Geographic data processing and variable computation were conducted using ArcGIS version 10.2. The odds ratios for allergy symptoms increased by 1.189 (1.235-2.679) times with decreasing distance to main roads and by 1.846 (1.176-2.896) times with decreasing distance to a gas station. This study concludes that main roads and gas-stations near children’s daycare centers are related to the allergy symptoms in children.