Abstract
The major air pollutants in the Seoul area are sulfur dioxide and total sus-pended particulates, which can have pronounced effects on human health and well-being. The major sources of air pollution in Seoul are automobile exhaust emissions and the combustion of domestic fuels. Outdoor measurements from air monitoring systems have often been used to represent ambient levels of ex-posure. However, there has been increased awareness about the importance of indoor air quality in the assessment of the health effects of air pollution, because most individuals spend from 70 to 90% of their time indoors. Although it is very difficult to accurately measure personal exposure, some epidemiological studies have attempted to investigate the potential effects of outdoor and indoor air pollution. It became apparent that comparison of indoor and outdoor measurements might have important implications for health effects studies. Recently, limited studies have reported on the levels of indoor air pollution although little attention has been paid to research on indoor air quality in Korea. This paper attempts to evaluate the indoor and outdoor levels of selected pollutants and the impact of certain household characterstics on the indoor levels in the Seoul area and to examine the adverse health effects of residences from self reports of a respiratory questionnaire.
