A comparative study of health quality of air in Tehran and Isfahan; 2008-2009

Air pollution is one of the most important problems in industrial cities and has affect on the lives of all people. In order to set the control programs, air pollution monitoring and determination of air quality are necessary. The aim of this study was to compare health quality of air in Tehran and Isfahan cities. This was a descriptive–analytic study. The moment concentrations of Tehran and Isfahan air pollutants was gathered through Direct reading method and referring to the Environmental protection organization, respectively. Then, Pollution Standard Index (PSI) was calculated based on the five criteria pollutants levels (O3, PM10, SO2, NO2 and CO) for Tehran and Isfahan cities through linear interpolation. Based on these levels and with regard to the National air quality standards for each pollutant air quality was categorized as good, moderate, unhealthy, very unhealthy and dangers in 2008-2009. Data were analyzed using t-test and SPSS software V.16. The results showed that in 2008-2009, with attention to Iran environmental protection organization standards, in 43 and 67 days, PSI was lower than 100 and in the other 323 and 299 days, PSI was higher than 100, respectively for Tehran and Isfahan. The critical pollutant was ozone and carbon monoxide in summer and carbon monoxide and Particulate Matter (PM10) in winter, respectively for Tehran and Isfahan. T-test between PSI mean of two cities showed a significant difference (p-value <0.0001). The air quality of the two cities was unhealthy in 2008-2009 and was in the very “serious situation” with regard to public health, especially for sensitive groups.