Air pollution during New Year\u2019s fireworks and daily mortality in the Netherlands

Frans E Greven,Judith M Vonk,Frans Duijm,Bert Brunekreef,Paul Fischer,Nienke M Vink

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-42080-6

Abstract

Short-term exposure to air pollution has been associated with cardiovascular and respiratory mortality and morbidity. Little is known about associations between air pollution caused by firework events and daily mortality. We investigated whether particulate matter from fireworks during New Year’s celebrations was associated with daily mortality. We analyzed the celebrations of the years 1995–2012. PM10 concentrations increased dramatically during the firework events. Countrywide, the daily average PM10 concentrations from 27–30 December was 29 μg/m3 and increased during the first hour of the New Year by 277 μg/m3. In the more densely populated areas of the Netherlands the increase was even steeper, 598 μg/m3 in the first hour of the New Year. No consistent associations were found using linear regression models between PM10 concentrations during the first six hours of 1 January and daily mortality in the general population. Yet, using a case-crossover analysis firework-days and PM10 concentrations were associated with daily mortality. Therefore, in light of the contradictory results obtained with the different statistical analyses, we recommend further epidemiological research on the health effects of exposure to firework emissions.

Highlights

Setting off fireworks during events such as the Diwali in India[1,2,3,4], Independence Day in the USA5, Lantern Festival in China and Taiwan[6,7], Guy Fawkes in the UK8,9 and, in many countries, New Year’s celebrations[10,11] causes short-term air-quality deteriorations
We evaluated the association between hourly PM10 concentrations, observed during New Year’s Eve fireworks, and daily mortality in the Netherlands
Positive associations were absent in the linear regression analysis, the case-crossover analysis showed some positive associations between firework-events, PM10 concentrations and daily mortality

Summary

Introduction

Setting off fireworks during events such as the Diwali in India[1,2,3,4], Independence Day in the USA5, Lantern Festival in China and Taiwan[6,7], Guy Fawkes in the UK8,9 and, in many countries, New Year’s celebrations[10,11] causes short-term air-quality deteriorations. Elderly and infants are most susceptible to mortality from short-term acutely elevated air pollution concentrations[28,29,30]. It is not clear how detrimental instantaneous fireworks emissions are for human health. Smith et al performed a small-scale study (n = 9) around New Year’s festivities in which they found a decrease in pulmonary function in 2 volunteers with a history of respiratory disease, while the 7 subjects without a history of respiratory disease showed no significant change following exposure to firework emissions[33]. We evaluated the association between hourly PM10 concentrations, observed during New Year’s Eve fireworks, and daily mortality in the Netherlands. During the research period setting off fireworks was permitted from 31 December 10 am until 1 January 2 am

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Discussion

Conclusion