Abstract
Vehicular emission is an important contributor to air pollution in the urban environment and impacts the health of commuters as well as drivers. The in-vehicle concentration of pollutants is known to be higher than the ambient environment and varies with the mode of transport. Thus, this study attempts to assess the health impacts of air pollution exposure on auto rickshaws and cab drivers. The study was conducted in Delhi using a triangular approach involving a health perception survey, lung function test and in-vehicle monitoring of particulate matter (PM1, PM2.5, PM10) concentration to assess the health impacts of air pollution on auto rickshaw and cab drivers. A total of 150 respondents (75 from each occupation) were surveyed, and spirometry was performed for 40 respondents (20 from each occupation). Binary logistic regression showed auto rickshaw drivers were exposed to significantly higher in-vehicle PM concentrations in summers and winters and, thus, had a significantly higher risk of developing respiratory, ophthalmic and dermatological health symptoms (p< 0.05 and relative risk >1). Pulmonary function test showed obstructive lung impairment was reported only among auto rickshaw drivers (6%) and restrictive lung impairment was also more prevalent among auto rickshaw drivers (48%) than cab drivers (33%), suggesting a greater vulnerability of auto rickshaw drivers to respiratory health issues. Lung function impairment was associated with age (p= 0.002). The health and well-being of individuals is a matter of global concern, also highlighted in sustainable development goal no. 3. However, it was observed that neither auto rickshaw drivers nor cab drivers used formal/standard protective measures mainly due to unawareness or unaffordability. The study suggests increasing awareness and formulating guidelines to highlight the use of proper protective measures by these vulnerable groups and specific policy measures to protect outdoor workers like auto rickshaw drivers.
Highlights
Urban air pollution is a serious problem across the world, which directly and indirectly affects the health of a large portion of the global population especially in developing nations
It is important to highlight that almost 50% of the sampled group both auto rickshaw and cab drivers considered air quality had a severe impact on their health (Figure S3e-f, SI, Section S3)
It was found that auto rickshaw drivers were exposed to significantly higher particulate matter (PM) concentrations and had a greater risk of developing various respiratory, ophthalmic, dermatological and other health problems
Summary
Urban air pollution is a serious problem across the world, which directly and indirectly affects the health of a large portion of the global population especially in developing nations. The invehicle concentration of pollutants such as PM is known to be higher than ambient environment and varied with the mode of transport (Rivas et al 2017a, b; Jain 2017; Kumar and Gupta 2016; Apte et al 2011) Outdoor workers such as auto rickshaw, taxi and bus drivers are exposed to such high air pollution levels due to the nature of their occupation requiring long working hours’ on-road or in congested areas (Zhang and Batterman, 2013). For e.g., various studies in Delhi have reported health impacts in terms of mortality and morbidity due to the deteriorating air quality of the city (Kumar and Mishra, 2018; Bajaj et al, 2017; Aggarwal and Jain 2015) This makes outdoor workers exposed to traffic micro-environments in Delhi, a vulnerable group to severe health impacts. The present study aims to study the health impacts due to occupational exposure to urban transport microenvironment among auto rickshaw and cab drivers
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