Effect of long-term exposure to PM2.5 on years of life lost in a populated Middle Eastern city

• Published in: Environmental geochemistry and health Vol. 43; no. 8; pp. 3229 - 3235
• Main Authors: Moradi, Maryam, Hadei, Mostafa, Yazdani, Mohsen, Goudarzi, Mohammad, Baboli, Zeynab, Tahmasebi Birgani, Yaser, Neisi, Abdolkazem, Goudarzi, Gholamreza
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.08.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Age groups; Air pollution; Air pollution control; Air quality; Atmospheric particulates; Dust storms; Earth and Environmental Science; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Exposure; Geochemistry; Industrial emissions; Industrial pollution; Men; Original Paper; Outdoor air quality; Particulate matter; Pollution control; Public Health; Risk analysis; Risk factors; Risk management; Soil Science & Conservation; Storms; Terrestrial Pollution; Women; YLL; Burden of disease; Fine particle; Particulate matter; Mortality
• ISSN: 0269-4042; 1573-2983
• DOI: 10.1007/s10653-021-00827-z

From a public health point of view, years of life lost (YLL) is a more important index than the number of deaths to evaluate the effect of risk factors. The objective of the present study was to estimate the burden of disease including years of life lost (YLL) and expected life remaining (ELR) attributed to long-term exposure to PM 2.5 in Ahvaz, one of the most polluted cities of the world, during March 2014 through March 2017. AirQ +  software was used for the estimation of YLL and ELR due to all natural causes of death. Hourly concentrations of PM 2.5 were acquired from the Department of Environment (DoE) of Ahvaz. Several steps were performed to validate the raw air quality data. Only the monitors were included that had minimum data completeness of 75%. Two age groups were selected for this study, including 0–64 and 65 < years. The life table approach was used to estimate YLL and ELR. Annual averages of PM 2.5 were 5.2–8 times higher than the air quality guideline (10 μg/m 3 ) set by WHO for long-term exposure to PM 2.5 . In total, PM 2.5  has caused 234,041 years of life lost due to mortality. About 84% of YLLs were attributed to people older than 65 years old. The YLLs of men were higher than those for women. The YLLs in the third year were greater than the first two years. PM 2.5 has caused the average age of total population, people aged 0–64 years old, and people > 65 years old decreased by 2.5, 3, and 1.6 years, respectively. These studies indicated that people in a city that the air quality is highly affected by dust storms, industrial emissions, and urban air pollution are significantly at risk. Air pollution control strategies and actions should be designed and executed to improve the quality of ambient air.