title: Spatial analysis of PM10 and cardiovascular mortality in the Seoul metropolitan area.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Numerous studies have revealed the adverse health effects of acute and chronic exposure to particulate matter less than 10 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM10). The aim of the present study was to examine the spatial distribution of PM10 concentrations and cardiovascular mortality and to investigate the spatial correlation between PM10 and cardiovascular mortality using spatial scan statistic (SaTScan) and a regression model.
  
  
  METHODS
  From 2008 to 2010, the spatial distribution of PM10 in the Seoul metropolitan area was examined via kriging. In addition, a group of cardiovascular mortality cases was analyzed using SaTScan-based cluster exploration. Geographically weighted regression (GWR) was applied to investigate the correlation between PM10 concentrations and cardiovascular mortality.
  
  
  RESULTS
  An examination of the regional distribution of the cardiovascular mortality was higher in provincial districts (gu) belonging to Incheon and the northern part of Gyeonggido than in other regions. In a comparison of PM10 concentrations and mortality cluster (MC) regions, all those belonging to MC 1 and MC 2 were found to belong to particulate matter (PM) 1 and PM 2 with high concentrations of air pollutants. In addition, the GWR showed that PM10 has a statistically significant relation to cardiovascular mortality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To investigate the relation between air pollution and health impact, spatial analyses can be utilized based on kriging, cluster exploration, and GWR for a more systematic and quantitative analysis. It has been proven that cardiovascular mortality is spatially related to the concentration of PM10.
authors.affiliation: Korea Environment Institute, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Yu-Ra
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Korea Environment Institute, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyun-Joo
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Bae
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Environment, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Youn-Hee
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Environmental Health Research Department, National Institute of Environmental Research, Incheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Seungdo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Environmental Health Research Department, National Institute of Environmental Research, Incheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Geun-Bae
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Environmental Health Research Department, National Institute of Environmental Research, Incheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Yong-Sung
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Cho
keywords: Cardiovascular mortality; Geographically weighted regression; PM10; SaTScan; Spatial epidemiology