Estimation of Health Effects Attributed to NO2 Exposure Using AirQ Model

Background & Aims of the Study: As an air pollutant, NO2 reacts with ammonia, moistureand other compounds to form small particles. These small particles may cause or aggravaterespiratory diseases and exacerbate existing heart diseases, leading to increased hospitaladmissions and premature death. In this study, the AirQ2.2.3 model was used to evaluateadverse health effects caused by NO2 exposure in Ahvaz city (Iran) during 2009.Materials & Methods: The adverse health effects of NO2 as an air pollutant in Ahvaz cityat 2009 were calculated by AirQ2.2.3 utilizing relative risk and baseline incidence relatedto health end point defaults. NO2 data were taken from Ahvaz Department of Environment.These data were in volumetric base. Health effects are being related to the mass ofpollutants inhaled and this is why the AirQ model was on gravimetric basis. So, there was aconflict between AirQ model and Ahvaz Department of Environment (ADoE) data.Conversion between volumetric and gravimetric units (correction of temperature andpressure), coding, processing (averaging) and filtering are implemented for solving suchproblem.Results: Approximately 3% of total cardiovascular mortality, acute myocardial infarction,and hospital admission for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease happened when the NO2concentrations was more than 20 μg/m3. Low percentage of the observed health endpointswas associated with low concentration of measured NO2. The lower level of relative riskvalue may be achieved if some control strategies for reducing NO2 emission are used.

Estimation of Health Effects Attributed to NO2 Exposure Using AirQ Model Keywords:

AirQ ModelHealth EndpointIran , AhvazNO2 ConcentrationsRelative RiskRisk