Abstract
Few studies have been conducted to investigate the acute health effects of visibility and haze, which may be regarded as proxy indicators of ambient air pollution. We used a distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM) combined with quasi-Poisson regression to estimate the relationship between visibility, haze and mortality in Ningbo, a coastal city of China. We found that the mortality risk of visibility was statistically significant only on the current day, while the risk of haze and PM10 peaked on the second day and could last for three days. When the visibility was less than 10 km, each 1 km decrease of visibility at lag 0 day was associated with a 0.78% (95% CI: 0.22–1.36%) increase in total mortality and a 1.61% (95% CI: 0.39–2.85%) increase in respiratory mortality. The excess risk of haze at lag 0–2 days on total mortality, cardiovascular and respiratory mortality was 7.76% (95% CI: 3.29–12.42%), 7.73% (95% CI: 0.12–15.92%) and 17.77% (95% CI: 7.64–28.86%), respectively. Greater effects of air pollution were observed during the cold season than in the warm season, and the elderly were at higher risk compared to youths. The effects of visibility and haze were attenuated by single pollutants. These findings suggest that visibility and haze could be used as surrogates of air quality where pollutant data are scarce, and strengthen the evidence to develop policy to control air pollution and protect vulnerable populations.
Highlights
Air pollution has become one of the biggest public health issues in the world
Average visibility was 11.9 ± 4.2 km, and there were 96 (8.76%) haze days identified during the study period, most of which occurred in the cold season (October to April)
Visibility showed a seasonal trend with lower values in the cold season, and vice versa for death counts and PM10 concentration
Summary
The Ethics Committee of Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention where this study was conducted approved the study proposal (No 201214). As one of the central cities in the YRD, Ningbo had less than 15 haze days per year before 2000, but nearly 50 haze days per year after. The city has a humid subtropical monsoon climate and four distinctive seasons. In the end of 2013, the number of registered residents of Ningbo was 5.8 million, distributed in an area of approximately 9.816 square kilometers [4]. Ningbo frequently experienced serious pollution accidents, such as long periods of haze events in the winter of 2013, during which the daily maximum concentration of PM10 was more than 600 μg/m3
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
