Abstract
Little information is available on the assessment of health impact concerning the Middle Eastern dust storms and PM10 concentration levels despite the aridity of the region and frequent dust storms occurring in this part of the world. A prospective study was conducted to determine the association between dust particles and morbidity and mortality rates for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases in Kuwait. Spearman and Pearson’s correlations were used to identify such associations. Results revealed a significant correlation between dust storms, suspended dust and rising dust (p < 0.01). Correlation between the occurrence of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and dust storms showed that PM10 concentrations were significantly correlated with bronchial asthma at the 0.05 level (Pearson r = 0.292). Significant correlations at the 0.01 level were shown between bronchial asthma and both acute lower respiratory tract infection (r = 0.737) and acute upper respiratory tract infection (r = 0.839). Respiratory and cardiovascular mortality rates were both equal to 0.62 per 10,000 persons, each corresponding to 8.7% proportionate mortality rate. This study provides a good evidence of the consistent relationship between dust storm events, PM10 concentration levels, and respiratory diseases.
Highlights
Dust storms are natural phenomena, most of which originate in desert or semi-desert drylands, in which dust particles are transported away from the main source, sometimes over thousands of kilometers [1]
This study revealed that dust storms, suspended dust, rising dust and PM10 followed a similar pattern throughout the studied period with high peaks during summer months, in June, and lower during winter months; this finding confirms the robust link between dust storm events and ambient air PM10 levels and is in agreement with other studies in similar arid conditions [6,29,43,44]
The impact of dust storms on human health has drawn great interest of research from various regions, especially in the western and east Asian countries; very little research was conducted to study the association of Arabian Peninsula dust storms or PM10 levels and associated health impact
Summary
Dust storms are natural phenomena, most of which originate in desert or semi-desert drylands, in which dust particles are transported away from the main source, sometimes over thousands of kilometers [1]. 61.4 tons per km per year, where fallen dust compromises 37% of sand particles [2,3]. A particular feature of blown dust is its extreme particulate matter intensity that increases the ambient air dust concentrations for several days. Dust particles include both PM10 and PM2.5 particle sizes which have an aerodynamic diameter smaller than 10 and 2.5 μm, respectively. A large number of desert dust contains particles with concentrations exceeding the guidelines established by the World Health. Atmospheric concentrations in individual dust events have recorded PM10 levels of
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