Evaluation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) attributed to atmospheric O₃, NO₂, and SO₂ using Air Q Model (2011-2012 year)

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an important disease worldwide characterized by chronically poor airflow. The economic burden of COPD on any society can be enormous if not managed. We applied the approach proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) using the AirQ2.2.3 software developed by the WHO European Center for Environment and Health on air pollutants in Tabriz (Iran) (2011-2012 year). A 1h average of concentrations of ozone (O₃), daily average concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and sulfur dioxide (SO₂) were used to assess human exposure and health effect in terms of attributable proportion of the health outcome and annual number of excess cases of Hospital Admissions for COPD (HA COPD). The results of this study showed that 2% (95% CI: 0.8-3.1%) of HA COPD were attributed to O₃ concentrations over 10μg/m³. In addition, 0.7 % (95% CI: 0.1-1.8%) and 0.5% (95% CI: 0-1%) of HA COPD were attributed to NO₂ and SO₂ concentrations over 10μg/m³ respectively. In this study, we have shown that O₃, NO₂ and SO₂ have a significant impact on COPD hospitalization. Given these results the policy decisions are needed in order to reduce the chronic pulmonary diseases caused by air pollution and furthermore better quantification studies are recommended.