This study analyzed the effect of air pollution on the perception of myocardial infarction and early symptoms of stroke, and to suggest policies for the prevention and management of cardiovascular diseases.
The data used was collected from national websites of Air Korea, the Statistics office, and the MDIS(MicroData Integrated Service) for the year 2020. This data classified the whole country into 162 regions, and contained atmospheric environmental substances including ultrafine particles, fine dust, carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide
In addition, the community health survey region-specific data was analyzed for the factors influencing myocardial infarction early symptom awareness rate and stroke early symptom awareness rate.
The results showed that, the factors influencing stroke early symptom awareness rate were; the ultrafine dust (β=-0.107, p=0.027), carbon monoxide (β=0.092, p=0.002), diabetes diagnosis experience rate (β=0.108, p=0.001), hypertension diagnosis experience rate (β=-0.078, p=0.029), myocardial infarction early symptom awareness rate (β=0.946, p=0.000). Furthermore, the factors influencing the myocardial infarction early symptom awareness rate were; the carbon monoxide (β=-0.089), diabetes diagnosis experience rate (β=-0.117, p=0.001), hypertension diagnosis experience rate (β=0.077, p=0.029), and stroke early symptom awareness rate (β=0.934, p=0.000). Therefore, in order to prevent cardiovascular disease, it is necessary to consider measures to reduce air pollution such as ultrafine dust and carbon monoxide, management of high blood pressure and diabetes diseases, and improve early symptom recognition rates.