황사(Asian dust storm, ADS)란 중국이나 몽골 등 중앙아시아 지역의 사막 지대의 작은 모래나 황토 또는 먼지가 하늘에 떠다니다가 상층풍을 타고 멀리까지 날아가 떨어지는 현상을 말하며, 주로 봄철에 우리나라를 비롯한 동아시아 지역에 영향을 준다. 이와 같은 황사에 영향을 받는 지역에서는 거주민들의 건강에 부정적인 영향을 미치는것으로 알려져 있다. 본 연구는 2005년도에서 2008년도까지 4년간 서울지역 거주민들 사이에서 황사현상이 천식질

This study investigates the relationship between Asian dust and asthma disease in Seoul, using data of Asian dust occurrences and the number of treatments for asthma between 2005 and 2008. The data include the number of treatments for asthma on the basic day paired with the average number of treatments for asthma on the compared days. The compared day is defined by the day of no Asian dust in same month and day of the week as the basic day, when Asian dust occurs. Also, the basic day is expanded to the day after three days from the day of Asian dust. The paired two sample t-test for the number of treatments for asthma on the basic day and the compared days revealed that the Asian dust occurrences are correlated with the asthma disease. The number of treatments for asthma is significantly increased on the one and two days after Asian dust occurs. On the other hand, there's no significant difference in the number of treatments for asthma between the days of Asian dust occurrence and the days of no Asian dust, which implies that people usually try not to go out when Asian dust occurs.