The first ferronickel manufacturing factory of the Republic of Korea was opened in Gwangyang City on October, 23rd, 2008. There has been public concern regarding heavy metal dust blown from the factory and slag disposal site. Therefore, we evaluated the health impact of the ferronickel factory on Gwangyang City residents by using interrupted time series analysis. We analyzed the monthly incidence patterns of asthma, allergic rhinitis, and dermatitis in Gwangyang City residents from 2004 to 2014. Data were gathered from the National Health Insurance Service database which covers all the hospital use data of entire city residents. Seasonality adjusted quasi-Poisson regression model was used to evaluate whether the operation of the ferronickel factory was associated with the immediate changes in the monthly disease incidence patterns. We set a control region, Yeosu City, near Gwangyang City to ensure that the changes in the disease incidence were specific to Gwangyang City. We conducted sub-regional level analysis to evaluate whether the disease incidence patterns were affected by the distance from the ferronickel factory. The risk estimates after operation of the ferronickel factory showed an abrupt increase in the monthly incidence of unspecified dermatitis [RR (95% CI), 1.75 (1.17–2.60)] and vasomotor and allergic rhinitis [RR (95% CI), 1.23 (1.08–1.39)] in men, and pruritus [RR (95% CI), 1.95 (1.51–2.52)], unspecified dermatitis [RR (95% CI), 1.65 (1.04–2.60)], and vasomotor and allergic rhinitis [RR (95% CI), 1.17 (1.04–1.31)] in women. These findings were significant even after accounting for the changes of the corresponding disease incidence of the comparison city, Yeosu. The effects were greater in young children (aged 0–9) and sub-regions near the ferronickel factory. Our study suggests possible association between the operation of the ferronickel factory and an abrupt increase of pruritus, unspecific dermatitis, and vasomotor and allergic rhinitis in Gwangyang City residents.

大韩民国的第一家镍铁制造工厂于2008年10月23日在光阳市开业。公众关注该工厂和炉渣处理场吹出的重金属粉尘。因此，我们通过中断时间序列分析评估了镍铁工厂对光阳市居民的健康影响。我们分析了2004年至2014年光阳市居民哮喘，过敏性鼻炎和皮炎的每月发病模式。数据来自全国健康保险服务数据库，其中涵盖了整个城市居民的所有医院使用数据。使用季节性调整的拟Poisson回归模型评估镍铁工厂的运营是否与每月疾病发病率模式的即时变化相关。我们在光阳市附近设置了一个丽水市的控制区域，以确保疾病的发生率变化是光阳市所特有的。我们进行了次区域水平分析，以评估疾病的发病方式是否受到与镍铁工厂的距离的影响。镍铁工厂运营后的风险估计表明，未指明的皮炎[RR（95％CI），1.75（1.17-2.60）]和血管舒缩性变应性鼻炎[RR（95％CI），1.23（男性和瘙痒[RR（95％CI），1.95（1.51–2.52）]，未指明的皮炎[RR（95％CI），1.65（1.04–2.60）]以及血管舒缩性变应性鼻炎[1.08–1.39）]。女性的RR（95％CI），1.17（1.04–1.31）]。即使考虑了比较城市相应的疾病发生率的变化，这些发现也是有意义的，丽水 在幼儿（0-9岁）和镍铁工厂附近的子区域，这种影响更大。我们的研究表明，在光阳市居民中，镍铁工厂的运营与瘙痒，非特异性皮炎，血管舒缩和过敏性鼻炎的突然增加之间可能存在关联。