Abstract

The amount of yellow dust that reaches Japan has recently increased. This increase could worsen asthma attacks. However, it is difficult to conduct quantitative research because yellow dust is widely dispersed. Therefore, very few epidemiological studies regarding yellow dust and asthma have been conducted. Given that, we applied a monitoring method that can investigate the amount of incoming yellow dust by using satellite data to this epidemiological study. This study attempts to shed light on such an important public health issue in Asia where cross boundary air pollution problems are increasing in recent years, by using remotely sensed satellite data and to examine the influx of yellow dust and its association with bronchial asthma mortality in Western Japan. We evaluated the relationship between the annual average amount of incoming yellow dust obtained from satellite data and the annual average mortality rate from asthma. Spearman’s rank correlation result revealed no significant correlation (r = 0.268, n = 8, P > 0.05). However, we were able to conduct a quantitative analysis on the influx of yellow dust conditions using satellite data collected over a period of 10 years. This confirms the applicability of use of satellite data in assessing future epidemiological research regarding yellow dust and air polluted related diseases.

Key words: Satellite data, yellow dust, bronchial asthma, mortality, Japan.