Short-term effects of ambient (outdoor) air pollution on cardiovascular death in Tehran, Iran – a time series study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to estimate the effect of ambient air pollutants on cardiovascular deaths in Tehran, Iran. In this time series study, air pollutant data were acquired from the Environmental Protection Agency. Meteorological data were acquired from the meteorological organization, and death data were acquired from the Tehran’s cemetery registration. Generalized Additive Models (GAM) were used for estimating the Rate Ratio. NO₂, SO₂ and PM₁₀ were associated with total cardiovascular deaths. PM₁₀ and NO₂ showed stronger relations with deaths in the elder age group. The result of this study showed that NO_2, SO₂, PM₁₀ and O₃ are probably responsible for part of the cardiovascular deaths that happen daily in Tehran.

Keywords:

• Air pollution
• cardiovascular
• death
• particulate matter
• Tehran

Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate the Tehran Air Quality Control Company (AQCC), Tehran Department of Environmental Protection, Tehran Meteorological Organization and the Tehran Cemetery (Behesht-e-Zahra) for providing the data of air pollutants, meteorology indices and deaths. This article is part of a PhD thesis in Epidemiology done at Kerman University of Medical Sciences.

Ethical approval

This project was approved by the Standing Committee of Ethics in Research of Kerman University of Medical Sciences (Ethics code: IR.KMU.REC.1395.267).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by Grant No. 95–198, from Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.