Health effects of PM2.5 constituents and source contributions in major metropolitan cities, South Korea

Abstract South Korea is one of the East Asian countries suffering severe ambient PM2.5 pollution which has been continuously reported to a risk factor driving both death and disability in many parts of the world. We investigated the associations of cause-specific mortality with both PM2.5 chemical constituents and source contributions in four metropolitan cities, namely Seoul, Daejeon, Gwangju and Ulsan, by applying the generalized linear model (GLM) to the results of the positive matrix factorization (PMF) modeling. The cities represent each of four air control zone designated as of April 2020 by the special law for controlling air pollution on a regional basis in South Korea. We found that that the interquartile range (IQR) increase in the concentration PM2.5 chemical constituents largely increased the relative risk (RR) of mortality, whereas the significance and strength of the associations were different among the cities. In addition, the effects of unit increase in source contributions also differed depending on regions. In conclusion, the results of this study suggest the PM2.5 compositional characteristics may have influenced the heterogeneous health of PM2.5 exposure among the cities. Therefore, the plans and policies based on the regional characteristics of PM2.5 composition and health risk need to be implemented along with the reduction of total mass concentration of PM2.5 for mitigating adverse health effects efficiently from a perspective of public health.