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ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION RESEARCH, vol.7, no.1, pp.147-154, 2016 (SCI-Expanded)
We examined the associations between the daily variations of air pollutants and mortality in the population of Istanbul, Turkey, using generalized linear models while controlling for time trends and meteorological factors over a 6-year period (2007-2012) at different time lags (0-10 days). Effects of the pollutants (Relative Risk (RR) on current-day (lag 0) mortality to the first ten days (lag 10) were determined. Data on daily mortality, daily mean concentrations of air pollutants of PM10, SO2 and NO2 and daily mean concentrations of temperature and humidity for Istanbul were used in the study. We found significant associations between air pollution and daily mortality from cardiovascular disease, respiratory diseases, and total non-accidental causes in Istanbul. An increase of 10 mu g/m(3) in concentrations of PM10, SO2 and NO2 over 10 days of lag corresponds to RR = 1.0222 (95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 0.9957-1.0494), RR = 1.1639 (95% CI = 1.0279-1.3177) and RR - 1.0327 (95% CI = 1.0105-1.0554) increase of cardiovascular mortality, respectively. The associations for total non-accidental and respiratory mortality were also positive. Among the three air pollutants, SO2 was associated with the largest RR for deaths from cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease and total mortality. In conclusion, our study showed that short-term exposure to air pollution was associated with increased cardiovascular, respiratory and total non-accidental mortality in the city during 2007-2012. These findings may have implications for local environmental and social policies. Copyright (C) 2015 Turkish National Committee for Air Pollution Research and Control. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.