Health impact assessment of particulate matter in Sanandaj, Kurdistan, Iran

Air pollution is a major environmental issue in all regions of the world. We aimed to assess the health impacts of particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter 10 µm (PM10) in Sanandaj, Kurdistan, Iran. The air pollution data were obtained from Sanandaj Department of Environment Protection. The annual mortality and morbidity, including cardiovascular and respiratory diseases attributable to PM10 exposure were estimated using AirQ model, which is the proposed method for health impact assessment of air pollution by World Health Organization. The annual, winter, and summer averages of PM10 in 2013 were 81.5, 64.7, and 98.3 μg/m3, respectively. The total mortality, cardiovascular mortality, respiratory mortality, hospital admissions due to cardiovascular diseases, and hospital admissions due to respiratory diseases, respectively, were estimated 228, 120, 23, 118, and 305 cases. Approximately 11.7% of total mortality was associated with concentrations more than 20 μg/m3. This study was the first attempt to assess the health impacts of air pollution in Sanandaj, Kurdistan, Iran. In summary, we found increased mortality and morbidity attributable to PM10 exposure.