High PM10 source regions and their influence on respiratory diseases in Canakkale, Turkey

Abstract

This study investigates the impacts of high PM10 concentrations on respiratory diseases in Canakkale, Turkey. Daily mean high-PM10 values (> 100 µg m−3) and daily total numbers of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and pneumonia patients are selected for different sexes and age groups (children, adults, and elderly) during the period 2007–2017. Mainly five different source regions of high-PM10 concentration levels are found as a result of implementation of Ward’s minimum clustering technique to HYSPLIT 72-h backward trajectory. From 104 days, 19.2% are categorized as internal sources and are positively linked to COPD in female—adult and elderly patients at lag2 and lag3. The other sources are exhibited as external sources and originated from Europe, Sahara, Mediterranean, and Russia regions with the 34.6%, 22.1%, 13.5%, and 10.6% percentages of all episodes, respectively. During Europe-originated high-PM10 days, anthropogenic pollutants mainly cause an increase in the numbers of the elderly female (r = 0.55) and adult male pneumonia patients (r = 0.39) at lag5. Additionally, accompanied by the interaction between Genoa cyclone and surface high over Caspian Sea, natural dust particles are transferred from Sahara to Canakkale by strong southwesterly winds. As a consequence, obvious increases are shown in hospital admissions based on adult female COPD patients at lag1 (r = 0.50) and lag4 (r = 0.53). While Mediterranean origin particulate matter triggering the numbers of COPD and pneumonia-related diseases at lag2 and lag3, the region is exposed to more pneumonia diseases 2 days after arriving of Russia origin harmful pollutants.