Short-Term Association between Black Carbon Exposure and Cardiovascular Diseases in Pakistan’s Largest Megacity

oleh: Daniel Malashock, Haider A. Khwaja, Zafar Fatmi, Azhar Siddique, Yi Lu, Shao Lin, David Carpenter

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2018-10-01

Deskripsi

This study investigated the association between black carbon (BC) exposure and hospital admissions (HAs) and outpatient department/emergency room (OPD/ER) visits for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) among residents of Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan. We measured daily concentrations of BC in fine particulate matter (PM<sub>2.5</sub>) and collected records of HAs and OPD/ER visits for CVD from 2 major tertiary care hospitals serving Karachi for 6 weeks continuously during each quarter over 1 year (August 2008&#8315;August 2009). We subsequently analyzed daily counts of hospital and BC data over 0&#8315;3 lag days. Daily mean BC concentrations varied from 1 to 32 &#181;g/m<sup>3</sup>. Results suggest that BC concentrations are associated with CVD HAs and OPD/ER visits. However, associations were generally only observed when modeled with BC from Tibet Center, the commercial-residential site, as compared to Korangi, the industrial-residential site. Overall, low statistical significance suggests that while BC may be a valuable indicator for CVD health risks from combustion-derived particles, further evaluation of the constituents of PM<sub>2.5</sub> and their relative contributions to CVD health impacts is necessary.