Mortality and morbidity due to exposure to ambient air PM10 in Zahedan city, Iran: The AirQ model approach

Abstract

Eastern cities of Iran, including Zahedan have been experiencing a dust storm phenomenon, causing air quality to worsen every year. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the health impact of PM10 on the inhabitants of Zahedan using AirQ2.2.3 model software. The findings of this study revealed that the annual average and maximum concentrations of PM10 were 110 and 1447 μg/m3 in 2018, which were 7.3 and 32.2 times higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, respectively. By increasing every 10 μg/m3, the relative risk (RR) rate of PM10 on cardiovascular and respiratory morbidity were 8.03% and 7.2% (95% CI), with a total number of excess cases of 210 and 544 people, respectively. Accordingly, the attributable proportion of total mortality from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases were 8.03% and 11.2% (95% CI), attributed to the total number of excess cases of 111 and 33 people, respectively. The findings of this study revealed that PM10 has a health impact on Zahedan citizens, according to the predicted results using AirQ model. Thus, the development of management strategies at the local and regional levels to reduce PM10 is required to improve the air quality in this city.