Abstract
Large number of epidemiological studies to know the effect of air pollution on the general mortality and morbidity, and the cardiopulmonary morbidity and mortality are concentrated in USA and Europe. Regional differences in air pollution necessitate regional level health effects studies. Present study is a cross sectional pilot study from India, an Asian country. A sample of population from an industrial town 'Mandi Gobindgarh' and a nonindustrial town 'Morinda' were selected. A cross-sectional household survey was done in both the towns. One hundred subjects were selected from each of the towns. Ambient air quality data was collected for both towns over a period of 10-months to assess seasonal variations. In the present study the average PM10 (particulate matter with < or = 10 microm aerodynamic diameter) levels in Morinda were 99.54 microg/m3 and in Mandi Gobindgarh 161.20 microg/m3. As per NAAQS the permitted levels of PM10 is 50 microg/m3 taken as annual average (arithmetic mean). Elemental analysis of the aerosol samples found the concentration levels to be higher in Mandi- Gobindgarh than Morinda. The population in Gobindgarh shows a higher prevalence of symptoms of angina and cardiovascular disease considered in the study as compared to Morinda. When the same data is viewed in terms of male and female population, the female population is found to show these symptoms marginally higher than their counterparts. Considering the results of present study it can be stated that the increased levels of different pollutants and the higher prevalence of cardiovascular symptoms in Mandi-Gobindgarh (Industrial town) than the Morinda (Non-Industrial town) is because of the association of PM pollution with cardiovascular diseases. Keeping in view the current status of literature, further studies in this direction are needed in a country like India. Such data will also be globally relevant.
Highlights
Air pollution including both the gaseous and suspended particulate matter (SPM) has become a matter of global concern, in some of the world’s industrial cities
The 'six criteria' air pollutants currently identified by United States Environment Protection Agency (EPA) considered important from public health viewpoint are respirable particulate matter including both the PM10 and PM2.5, sulfur-dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen-dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3) and lead (Pb) [1]
The distribution of elements in the PM2.5 and PMcf fractions give an idea about the impact of the possible pollution sources at the measurement site [36]
Summary
Air pollution including both the gaseous and suspended particulate matter (SPM) has become a matter of global concern, in some of the world’s industrial cities. The 'six criteria' air pollutants currently identified by United States Environment Protection Agency (EPA) considered important from public health viewpoint are respirable particulate matter including both the PM10 (particulate matter with ≤ 10μm aerodynamic diameter) and PM2.5 (particulate matter with ≤ 2.5μm aerodynamic diameter), sulfur-dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen-dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3) and lead (Pb) [1]. Large numbers of epidemiological studies have been carried out throughout the world to know the effects of air pollution on the general mortality and morbidity, and the cardiopulmonary morbidity and mortality [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]. During the 1990s, there has been rising use of time-series method to evaluate the effect of air pollution on daily mortality & morbidity measure, such as numbers of hospitalizations or emergency room visits [4].
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