The association between ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations and air pollution-related respiratory disease at the pollution control zone of Rayong Province, Thailand

Somboon CHAIPRAKARN; Paphaon KHEAWSEEMA; Chanakarn SAKULTHAEW; Panudet SAENGSEEDAM

doi:10.22630/srees.10910

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The association between ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations and air pollution-related respiratory disease at the pollution control zone of Rayong Province, Thailand

Scientific Review Engineering and Environmental Sciences

Volume 35 (2026): Issue 2 (June 2026)

By: Somboon CHAIPRAKARN , Paphaon KHEAWSEEMA , Chanakarn SAKULTHAEW and Panudet SAENGSEEDAM

Open Access

|Jul 2026

Figures & Tables

Geographic distribution of PM2.5 monitoring stations and the hospital catchment area within the pollution control zone of Rayong Province Source: own work.

Annual trend of average PM2.5 concentrations from all monitoring stations at the pollution control zone of Rayong Province in Thailand during 2020–2023 Source: own work.

Temporal variation in PM2.5 concentrations by station during 2020-2023 Source: own work.

Correlation matrix illustrating relationships between PM2.5 concentrations and respiratory disease categories across monitoring stations. All correlation coefficients are numerically presented in Table 4 Source: own work.

The Spearman correlation analysis between PM2.5 exposure and selected respiratory diseases Source: own work.

Characteristics of PM2_5 monitoring stations included in the study

Station code	Monitoring site	Nearby sources
28T	Pluakdaeng District Health Office, Rayong, Thailand	industrial estate, port activities
29T	Health Promotion Hospital Maptaphut, Rayong, Thailand	petrochemical complex, traffic
30T	Rayong Provincial Agricultural Office, Rayong, Thailand	traffic, mixed land use
31T	Field Crop Research Center, Rayong, Thailand	agricultural activities, open areas
74T	Government Center, Rayong, Thailand	residential traffic, commercial area

Average concentrations of PM2_5 by monitoring station and year at the pollution control zone of Rayong Province in Thailand during 2020–2023 [μg·m−3]

Year	Station					Mean (all stations)	Max	Min
Year	28T	29T	30T	31T	74T	Mean (all stations)	Max	Min
2020	20.94	16.43	17.75	16.75	19.07	18.19	20.94	16.43
2021	20.02	19.42	16.49	17.51	17.41	18.17	20.02	16.49
2022	16.74	19.91	19.16	18.63	16.83	18.25	19.91	16.74
2023	18.79	21.93	20.30	21.72	19.99	20.55	21.93	18.79
Average	19.12	19.92	18.43	18.65	18.33	18.89	21.93	16.43

Full Spearman correlation matrix across all lag periods (N = 45–52)

Disease	Station	lag 0	lag 1	lag 2	lag 3	lag 4	lag 5	lag 6	lag 7	Strongest correlation
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)	28T	0.072	0.098	–0.009	–0.107	–0.142	–0.130	–0.268	–0.296*	–0.296* (lag 7)
	29T	–0.006	0.194	0.067	–0.029	–0.039	0.017	–0.227	–0.241	NS
	30T	0.057	0.240	0.080	–0.102	–0.019	–0.004	–0.209	–0.209	NS
	31T	0.042	0.195	0.125	0.013	–0.006	0.050	–0.172	–0.233	NS
	74T	0.075	0.206	0.095	–0.020	–0.068	–0.001	–0.210	–0.245	NS
Asthma	28T	0.052	–0.016	–0.145	–0.240	–0.304*	–0.278	–0.252	–0.230	–0.304* (lag 4)
	29T	0.208	0.252	0.153	–0.024	–0.125	–0.140	–0.027	–0.087	NS
	30T	0.153	0.160	0.072	–0.019	–0.047	0.002	0.050	0.056	NS
	31T	0.255	0.283*	0.172	0.025	–0.079	–0.062	–0.003	–0.052	0.283* (lag 1)
	74T	0.259	0.230	0.101	–0.042	–0.151	–0.078	–0.050	–0.073	NS
Influenza	28T	–0.023	–0.080	–0.215	–0.268	–0.259	–0.189	–0.164	–0.101	NS
	29T	0.203	0.225	0.116	–0.019	–0.033	0.030	0.062	0.102	NS
	30T	0.129	0.141	0.012	–0.043	–0.055	0.043	0.100	0.157	NS
	31T	0.256	0.262	0.155	0.025	0.007	0.094	0.092	0.086	NS
	74T	0.204	0.172	0.083	–0.060	–0.074	0.024	0.019	0.027	NS
Acute pharyngitis	28T	–0.110	–0.184	–0.295*	–0.337*	–0.310*	–0.163	–0.065	–0.075	–0.337* (lag 3)
	29T	0.104	0.146	0.077	–0.044	–0.078	0.048	0.186	0.172	NS
	30T	0.031	0.069	–0.003	–0.077	–0.100	0.039	0.159	0.156	NS
	31T	0.134	0.168	0.087	–0.041	–0.062	0.101	0.210	0.140	NS
	74T	0.069	0.085	0.007	–0.158	–0.184	–0.005	0.099	0.060	NS
Chronic rhinitis	28T	–0.041	0.121	0.127	0.149	0.097	0.055	0.011	–0.118	NS
	29T	–0.175	0.059	0.152	0.060	0.016	0.090	0.043	–0.059	NS
	30T	–0.099	0.137	0.167	0.082	0.119	0.075	0.066	–0.091	NS
	31T	–0.189	0.048	0.106	0.038	0.017	0.113	0.057	–0.089	NS
	74T	–0.151	0.110	0.107	0.043	–0.010	0.122	0.078	–0.071	NS
Bronchitis	28T	0.153	0.007	–0.182	–0.354*	–0.419	–0.317*	–0.233	–0.112	–0.419** (lag 4)
	29T	0.199	0.160	0.066	–0.211	–0.331*	–0.296*	–0.194	–0.077	–0.331* (lag 4)
	30T	0.166	0.135	–0.020	–0.206	–0.229	–0.099	–0.005	0.063	NS
	31T	0.258	0.240	0.122	–0.152	–0.273	–0.193	–0.117	–0.038	NS
	74T	0.276*	0.217	0.083	–0.181	–0.303*	–0.180	–0.117	–0.008	0.276* (lag 0)
All diseases combine	28T	0.024	–0.067	–0.224	–0.333*	–0.349*	–0.242	–0.164	–0.117	–0.349* (lag 4)
	29T	0.186	0.207	0.094	–0.110	–0.183	–0.096	0.016	0.061	NS
	30T	0.110	0.140	0.023	–0.098	–0.121	–0.007	0.109	0.158	NS
	31T	0.239	0.260	0.142	–0.061	–0.128	–0.010	0.071	0.070	NS
	74T	0.212	0.203	0.074	–0.126	–0.200	–0.057	0.011	0.029	NS

Number of patients with respiratory diseases by category and year at the pollution control zone of Rayong Province in Thailand during 2020–2023

Disease	2020	2021	2022	2023	Total (4 years)	Mean (1 year)	Max	Min
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)	722	566	704	688	2,680	670.0	722	566
Asthma	1,384	1,222	1,360	1,784	5,750	1,437.5	1,784	1,222
Pneumonia	707	413	571	1,127	2,818	704.5	1,127	413
Influenza	274	6	194	2,530	3,004	751.0	2,530	6
Acute pharyngitis	1,255	578	1,554	2,235	5,622	1,405.5	2,235	578
Chronic rhinitis	31	27	21	22	101	25.3	31	21
Bronchitis	1,141	367	706	1,090	3,304	826.0	1,141	367
All diseases combined	5,514	3,179	5,110	9,476	23,279	5,819.8	–	–

Spearman correlation coefficients (r) between PM2_5 concentrations and respiratory diseases by monitoring station at the pollution control zone of Rayong Province in Thailand during 2020–2023

Disease	Station					Mean (r)
Disease	28T	29T	30T	31T	74T	Mean (r)
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)	0.072	–0.006	0.057	0.042	0.075	0.062
Asthma	0.052	0.208	0.153	0.255	0.259	0.206
Pneumonia	0.062	0.260	0.159	0.276*	0.242	0.223
Influenza	–0.023	0.203	0.129	0.256	0.204	0.170
Acute pharyngitis	–0.110	0.104	0.031	0.134	0.069	0.051
Chronic rhinitis	–0.041	–0.175	–0.099	–0.189	–0.151	–0.153
Bronchitis	0.153	0.199	0.166	0.258	0.276*	0.232
All diseases combined	0.024	0.186	0.110	0.239	0.212	0.169

Statistically significant Spearman correlations (r) between daily PM2_5 concentrations and respiratory diseases across lag periods (0–7 days) at pollution control zone of Rayong Province in Thailand during 2020–2023 (approximately 1,461 daily observations)

Disease	Station	lag	r	Significance
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)	28T	lag 7	–0.296	*
Asthma	28T	lag 4	–0.304	*
Asthma	31T	lag 1	0.283	*
Acute pharyngitis	28T	lag 2	–0.295	*
Acute pharyngitis	28T	lag 3	–0.337	*
Acute pharyngitis	28T	lag 4	–0.310	*
Bronchitis	28T	lag 3	–0.354	*
Bronchitis	28T	lag 5	–0.317	*
Bronchitis	28T	lag 4	–0.419	**
Bronchitis	29T	lag 4	–0.331	*
Bronchitis	29T	lag 5	–0.296	*
Bronchitis	74T	lag 0	0.276	*
Bronchitis	74T	lag 4	–0.303	*
All diseases combined	28T	lag 3	–0.333	*
All diseases combined	28T	lag 4	–0.349	*

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.22630/srees.10910 | Journal eISSN: 2543-7496 | Journal ISSN: 1732-9353

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Language: English

Page range: 117 - 138

Submitted on: Oct 30, 2025

Accepted on: Mar 11, 2026

Published on: Jul 7, 2026

Published by: Warsaw University of Life Sciences - SGGW Press

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

PM_2.5,

respiratory disease,

air pollution,

pollution control zone,

time-lag analysis

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Architecture,

Architects, buildings,

Geosciences,

Geosciences, other,

Engineering,

Mechanical engineering,

Fundamentals of mechanical engineering,

Geosciences,

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© 2026 Somboon CHAIPRAKARN, Paphaon KHEAWSEEMA, Chanakarn SAKULTHAEW, Panudet SAENGSEEDAM, published by Warsaw University of Life Sciences - SGGW Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License.

Volume 35 (2026): Issue 2 (June 2026)

The association between ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations and air pollution-related respiratory disease at the pollution control zone of Rayong Province, Thailand

Figures & Tables

FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 5.

Characteristics of PM2_5 monitoring stations included in the study

Average concentrations of PM2_5 by monitoring station and year at the pollution control zone of Rayong Province in Thailand during 2020–2023 [μg·m−3]

Full Spearman correlation matrix across all lag periods (N = 45–52)

Number of patients with respiratory diseases by category and year at the pollution control zone of Rayong Province in Thailand during 2020–2023

Spearman correlation coefficients (r) between PM2_5 concentrations and respiratory diseases by monitoring station at the pollution control zone of Rayong Province in Thailand during 2020–2023

Statistically significant Spearman correlations (r) between daily PM2_5 concentrations and respiratory diseases across lag periods (0–7 days) at pollution control zone of Rayong Province in Thailand during 2020–2023 (approximately 1,461 daily observations)

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