Effects of long-term exposure to PM2.5 on years of life lost and expected life remaining in Ahvaz city, Iran (2008-2017)

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2021 Jan;28(1):280-286. doi: 10.1007/s11356-020-10393-z. Epub 2020 Aug 18.

Abstract

Ambient air pollution is one of the most significant environmental problems, and many individuals around the world die each year prematurely from diseases caused by this type of pollution. PM2.5 can transpire deep to the lungs and induce some dangerous health effects in humans. In this study, the health effects of long-term PM2.5 were estimated on expected life remaining (ELR) and years of life lost (YLL) indices in Ahvaz city during the years 2008-2017 using the AirQ+ software developed by WHO. Values obtained from the PM2.5 averaging, ELR, and YLL data were processed for the whole population in the age range of 0-64 and over 64. These values were entered into AirQ+ software. The mean annual concentration of PM2.5 was highly variable, with the highest concentration being 70.72 μg/m3 in 2010 and the lowest 41.97 μg/m3 in 2014. In all studied years, the concentration of PM2.5 with the variations between 4.2 to 7.07 times was higher than the WHO standard (10 μg/m3). Ahvaz city also did not experience any clean day during the 10-year period, and in 2010, there were 47 very unhealthy days and 27 dangerous days, i.e., the highest number of very unhealthy and dangerous days during the period. The results estimated that the highest and lowest YLL in the next 10 years for all ages groups would be 137,760.49 (2010) and 5035.52 (2014), respectively. Also, the ELR index was lower than the Iranian standard and EPA which was significantly correlated with the concentration of PM2.5.

Keywords: Air pollution; ELR; Human health; PM2.5; YLL.

MeSH terms

  • Air Pollutants* / analysis
  • Air Pollution* / analysis
  • Cities
  • Environmental Exposure / analysis
  • Humans
  • Iran
  • Particulate Matter / analysis

Substances

  • Air Pollutants
  • Particulate Matter