Hospital admissions in Iran for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases attributed to the Middle Eastern Dust storms

The main objective of this study was to assess the possible effects of airborne particulate matter less than 10 μm in diameter (PM₁₀) from the Middle Eastern Dust (MED) events on human health in Khorramabad (Iran) in terms of estimated hospital admissions (morbidity) for cardiovascular diseases (HACD) and for respiratory diseases (HARD) during the period of 2015 to 2016. The AirQ program developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) was used to estimate the potential health impacts to daily PM₁₀ exposures. The numbers of excess cases for cardiovascular/respiratory morbidity were 20/51, 72/185, and 20/53 on normal, dusty, and MED event days, respectively. The highest number of hospital admissions was estimated for PM₁₀ concentrations in the range of 40 to 49 μg/m³, i.e, lower than the daily (50 μg/m³) limit value established by WHO. The results also showed that 4.7% (95% CI 3.2-6.7%) and 4.2% (95% CI 2.6-5.8%) of HARD and HACD, respectively, were attributed to PM₁₀ concentrations above 10 μg/m³. The study demonstrates a significant impact of air pollution on people, which is manifested primarily as respiratory and cardiovascular problems. To reduce these effects, several immediate actions should be taken by the local authorities to control the impacts of dust storms on residents' health, e.g., developing a green beltway along the Iran-Iraq border and management of water such as irrigation of dry areas that would be effective as mitigation strategies.