QUANTIFICATION OF THE HEALTH EFFECTS OF EXPOSURE TO AIR POLLUTION (NO2) IN TABRIZ, IRAN

摘要

Epidemiological studies show that long-term exposure to NO2/NOx is associated with an increased risk of cancer. The mortality and morbidity rates due to NO2 in the Tabriz city was determined considering the relative risk and baseline incidence provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) / European Center for Environment Health, Bilthoven Division using the AirQ(2.23) software to analyze the data. The results of this study showed that 0.85% (CI 95% 0.36 - 0.96) of acute myocardial infarction, 0.47% (CI 95% 0 - 0.94) of cardiovascular mortality and 9.28% (CI 95% 0.1 - 2.19) of hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can be attributed to NO2 concentrations over 10 mu g/m(3). According to this model, cases of cardiovascular deaths and acute myocardial infarction caused by NO2 in Tabriz were about 0.23 and 0.10% of the total mortalities, respectively. In addition, about 0.9% of the total hospital admissions related to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (HA COPD) was caused by NO2. Therefore, due to this pollution, preventive measures and effective strategies for implementing policies related to reduce air pollution should be undertaken in Tabriz city.