Background: Considerable effort had been devoted to utilization of Environmental Health indicators when taking an action for environmental health problems. Aims: We investigated the usefulness of environmental health indicators for evaluation of environmental health situation in Republic of Korea. We also assess the association between environmental contamination and health outcomes by integrating indicators into a composite measure. Methods: We selected health-related environmental indicators and the environmental-related health status Indicators and obtained the data from published statistical data. The data covered years 2008-2009. Both the synthesized measures of environmental indicators and health status indicators were calculated using Strahll's taxonometric methods. The range of synthesized measures is within 0-1. The higher the value is, the better situation is in the given area. Results: The study areas consisted of all 16 large administrative areas in Republic of Korea. The arithmetic mean of the synthesized measure of environmental indicators was 0.348 (SD=0.151) and that of the synthesized measure of health status indicators was 0.708 (SD=0.107). Correlation coefficient between the synthesized measure of environmental indicators and health status indicators was 0.69 (95% CI, 0.28-0.88). Conclusions: Comparison between local communities based on integrated indicators may provide useful information for decision-makers to identify priorities in pollutant mitigation policies or in improvement actions for public health. Integrated indicators are also useful to describe the relationship between environmental contamination and health effects.
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