Assessment of hospitalization and mortality from exposure to PM₁₀ using AirQ modeling in Ilam, Iran

The aims of this study were to assess the health impact of PM₁₀ on inhabitants and to investigate the trend of PM₁₀ concentrations in Ilam, Iran, from 2012 to 2015. For these aims, daily average concentration of PM₁₀ was obtained from continuous monitoring stations in the study area. Mortality and morbidity due to PM₁₀ were assessed by AirQ software developed by World Health Organization (WHO). Based on the results, the annual mean concentrations of PM₁₀ in all of years were more than WHO guideline and PM₁₀ concentration had a decreasing trend in this study period. Total mortality attributed to PM₁₀ was found to be 49 cases in 2012, 25 in 2013, and 33 in 2014. Hospital admission due to respiratory diseases was the most impact due to PM_10. Increase in relative risk (RR) with every 10 μg/m³ increase in PM₁₀ from 2012 to 2015 years for total mortality, respiratory disease hospitalization, and hospital admissions were 0.6, 0.8, and 0.9%, respectively. The results of this study indicated that air pollution is one of the major problems in this urban area and AirQ model as simple tool can help to design preventive and controlling programs in order to reduce human health effects of pollutants.