Morbidity due to particulate matter (PM10) in Iran

The main objective of this study was to assess the effects of particulate matter less than 10 µm in diameter (PM10) from the Middle-Eastern Dust (MED) events on the health. For this purpose, AirQ2.2.3 software was applied. Daily PM10 concentrations were used to assess the health impacts of human exposure to this pollutant. According to the baseline incidence (BI) defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of estimated excess cases HACD and HARD were 112 and 289 persons, respectively. The highest percentage of person-days was occurred in concentration interval of 40-49 µg/m3. The results show that 4.74% (95% CI: 3.2-6.7%) and 4.2% (95% CI: 2.6-5.8%) of HARD and HACD were associated with PM10 concentrations above 10 µg/m3, respectively. To diminish these effects, several immediate actions should be managed in the governmental scale to the control dust such as spreading mulch and planting some new species, which are compatible to arid area.

Keywords:

Middle East , Cardiovascular , Respiratory , Hospitalization