Long-term effects of the Hebei Spirit oil spill on the prevalence and incidence of allergic disorders

Se Hyun Hwang, Yong Jin Lee, Yun Hee Choi, Da An Huh, Min Sung Kang, Kyong Whan Moon

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    6 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The Hebei Spirit oil spill accident occurred in December 2007, approximately 10 km off the coast of Taean, South Korea, a location notably close to residential areas. Crude oil substances have been detected in various environmental mediums since the accident, yet previous studies have primarily focused on the acute effects of oil exposure due to the short latency period of allergic diseases. Therefore, this study evaluated the long-term effects of oil spill exposure on allergic disorders. Our study included adult residents who had participated in the Health Effects Research on Hebei Spirit Oil Spill (HEROS) study up to five years post-incident, which was a prospective cohort to monitor the health status of Taean residents. We used two indicators to assess oil spill exposure, namely the distance from the initial contaminated coastline to each participant's residence and the number of days participants had engaged in oil clean-up work. Current symptoms such as asthma, allergic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis, allergic conjunctivitis, and multimorbidity were considered allergic disorders. In the baseline survey, the prevalence of asthma, allergic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis, allergic conjunctivitis, and allergic multimorbidity symptoms was associated with both exposure indicators; however, these associations were not observed in the two consecutive surveys. Significant longitudinal associations between oil spill exposure indicators and the four allergic disorders, as well as multimorbidity incidences, were observed during a five-year follow-up period. Our results suggest that oil spill exposure can affect acute and long-term allergic symptoms in residents near the accident site.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number168801
    JournalScience of the Total Environment
    Volume912
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2024 Feb 20

    Bibliographical note

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2023 Elsevier B.V.

    Keywords

    • Allergic disorder
    • Hebei Spirit
    • Long-term effect
    • Multimorbidity
    • Oil spill

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Environmental Engineering
    • Environmental Chemistry
    • Waste Management and Disposal
    • Pollution

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