Since Dec. 2003 Central Taiwan Science Park was formal initiated to develop and the impacts should be periodically assessed. The objective of this study is to evaluate the health status of residents in Central Taiwan Science Park and to measure the concentrations of indoor particulate matters (PM) and heavy metals in the air. ISC3 model was used to simulate to the levels of air pollutants and then to define the influence area. Residents and schoolchildren were interviewed using the respiratory questionnaire modified by American Thoracic Society (ATS), and demographic information, lifestyle, health status and environmental factors in their home were simultaneously collected. Five houses in the vicinity of Central Taiwan Science Park were purposely selected to measure levels of indoor PM10 and PM2.5 using Quartz crystal Microbalance (QCM) cascade impactor companied with ambient PM information obtained from an air-monitoring station in Taichung City of Taiwan Bureau of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Levels of metal were simultaneously measured and analyzed using ICP/MS. Related information of sampling houses including ventilation type, numbers of family people, type and time of cooking were recorded.
The results showed the forced vital capacity (FVC) in residents was significantly explained by the age, gender, height, different community and mold in house. 31.6% of prevalence rate in shortness of breathing was found the highest but the lowest in asthma was 4.7%. Respiratory symptoms and diseases were significantly associated with the cigarette smoking. In schoolchildren, the percentages of common cold in previous one year, asthma and medication during half year ago were significant difference between two areas. Besides the percentage of pet in house, environmental factors were found the significant difference between two areas. Respiratory symptoms and diseases in schoolchildren was significantly associated the incense in their house, odds ratio of thoracic symptoms and common cold was found to be 4.70. In House #1, the levels of PM were continuously monitored during 24-hours and showed the association with cooking in breakfast and dinner. Significantly correlations were respectively found the indoor and outdoor levels of PM2.5 and PM10. Besides the nickel in indoor air was non-detected, zinc in PM2.5 and PM10 were respectively the highest levels of 57.4ng/m3 and 58.8ng/m3.
Based on the related information of the respiratory symptoms and diseases among residents and backgrounds of PM and heavy metal in both indoor and outdoor air, it is necessary to periodically monitor the fluctuation of health status of residents and air pollutants emitted form the Central Taiwan Science Park.
