Cardiopulmonary Mortalities and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Attributed to Ozone Air Pollution

Background & Aims of the Study: Ozone is a summer pollutant which can causerespiratory complications, eye burning sensation and failure of immune defense againstinfectious diseases. Ahvaz city (southwestern Iran) is one of the seven polluted Iranianmetropolises. In this study we examined the health impacts of ozone pollution in Ahvazcity during years 2010 and 2011.Materials & Methods: The health effects of ozone pollution in Ahvaz estimated bydetermining mortality and morbidity, and incidence of diseases attributed to the ozone, i.e.,cardiopulmonary mortalities and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) using AirQuality Model. Ozone data were taken from Ahvaz Department of Environment (ADoE).Conversion between volumetric and gravimetric units (correction of temperature andpressure), coding, processing (averaging) and filtering were implemented.Results: Sum of accumulative cases of mortalities attributed to ozone was 358 cases in2010 and 276 cases in 2011. Cardiovascular and respiratory mortality attributed to ozonewere 118 and 31 persons, respectively; which revealed a considerable reduction comparedto those values in 2010. Number of cases for hospital admissions due to COPD was 35 in2011, while it was 45 cases in 2010. The concentration of ozone in 2011 was lower thanthat of 2010 and this is why both mortalities and morbidities of 2011 attributed to ozonepollutant had decreased when compared to those values of 2010.Conclusions: Mortality and morbidity attributed to ozone concentrations in 2011 werelower than those of 2010. The most important reason was less concentration in ground levelozone of 2011 than that of 2010 in Ahvaz city air.

کلیدواژه ها:

Ahvaz ، IranAir Quality (Air Q) ModelCardiacChronic ObstructivePulmonary Disease (COPD)OzoneRespiratoryVascular