Estimation of health effects of PM2.5 exposure using Air Q model in Isfahan during 2013

Epidemiological studies have shown that outdoor air pollution results in serious adverse health outbreaks such as respiratory and heart problems, lung dysfunction, chronic bronchitis and death. The aim of this study was to estimate the health effects and premature death due to atmospheric PM2.5 exposure in the city of Isfahan in 2013.
This study was an ecological study. Annually collected PM2.5 data in Ostandari, Khajoo and Eliaderan monitoring stations were obtained from the department of environment and epidemiological data for the study period were attained form the province health center. The World Health Organization (WHO), Air Q 2.2.3 software was used to assess the impacts of PM2.5 on population health.
The results showed that the highest and lowest concentrations of PM2.5 were related to the Ostandari and Khajoo monitoring stations. Mean annual, winter and summer, and 98 percentile of PM2.5 concentration, were 76.64, 81.93, 71.37, and 204.3 μg/m3, respectively. The total number of deaths among the studied population attributed to base incidence was 683.5 per 105 people, and the deaths caused by PM2.5 exposure, with relative risks of 1.011, 1.015 and 1.019, were 733, 978 and 1213 persons, respectively.
This study showed that according to the AirQ software outputs, deaths attributed to PM2.5 in Isfahan city was 8.1 % of total non-accidental deaths recorded in 2013. The average PM2.5 concentration in the winter was higher compared to that in summer, which is due to the occurrence of thermal inversion and increasing use of fossil fuels for home heating. Therefore, controlling measures for reduction of pollutant emissions can considerably reduce the mortality rate.