Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) attributed to O3 and NO2

The main objective of this study was to assess the Hospital Admissions for COPD (HACOPD) associated with exposure to atmospheric ozone (O3) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) using the approach proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Kermanshah, Iran (2014-2015). One-hour levels of O3 and daily concentrations of NO2 were used to assess human exposure and health endpoint in terms of attributable proportion of the health outcome annual number of excess cases of HACOPD. Based on the relative risk (RR) and baseline incidence (BI) of the WHO, the cumulative number of 36 and 13 persons were estimated due to O3 and NO2 exposure. The results showed that 4.1% (CI: 2.5-6.1%) and 2.3% (0.24-5.4%) of the HACOPD were attributed to O3 and NO2 concentrations over 10 µg/m3, respectively. In this study, we have indicated that O 3 and NO2 have a significant effect on COPD hospitalization. Since the geographic, demographic, and climate characteristics are different and not well evaluated, further investigations are recommended for quantification of other health impacts of O3 and NO2. The lower RR value can be achieved if some control strategies for reducing pollutants emissions were implemented

Keywords:

COPD , Ozone , Nitrogen dioxide , Relative risk , Hospitalization , Kermanshah