Human health impacts attributable to inhalation exposure of particulate matter (PM₁₀ and PM_2.5) during the Holi festival

Abstract

Objective

The present study focuses on residential areas of Delhi to identify the elevated levels of ambient PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 due to biomass burning followed by the coloring activity in the Holi festival celebrated at the end of the winter season. This study also focuses on the health risk assessment and mortality among different age groups due to the change in particulate matter levels during the Holi festival in Delhi, India.

Materials and Methods

Secondary data of particulate matters have been procured from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), and Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune for the period of the pre-, during, and post-Holi period for the year 2018-2020 at four selected residential locations in Delhi, India. The health impacts of particle inhalation were quantified using the AirQ + models.

Results

The results indicated the levels of PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 rise about 3-4 times higher during the Holi festival than on normal days, resulting in health risks and causing an excess number of mortality and Asthma cases in Delhi. Such cases were also found to be higher in 2018, followed by 2019 and 2020 at all the selected locations in Delhi.

Conclusions

The study linked the increasing particulate levels in the Holi festival with the increased health risk through short-term exposure of the population. The excess number of cases (ENCs) of mortality, all causes of mortality among adults (age > 30 years) associated with short-term exposure to particulate were also identified.

Keywords:

• PM₁₀
• PM_2.5
• Holi festival
• residential sites
• AirQ+ model
• health risk and mortality

Acknowledgement

The authors acknowledge the CPCB, DPCC and IITM for providing secondary data on air pollutants. Furthermore, the authors are grateful to regional office for Europe of the WHO for AirQ+ model. The authors wish to acknowledge the editor and anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions to enhance the quality of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The authors also declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Data availability statement

Authors confirm and understand the terms of the share upon reasonable request data policy and the required data has been provided. The DOI or any other location for the present data is not applicable for this publication.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.