Estimation of health impacts and morbidity attributed to particulate matter 10 exposure using Air Quality model in Karaj city for 2016–2021

Background: Determining the impact of air pollution in cities faces two major challenges; First, the limited data on the health effects of pollutants, and second, the lack of information on exposure to air pollutants and their concentrations. Air pollution assessment effects relate to community influence on air pollutants and critical air quality status. The aim of this study was to quantify and estimate the cardiovascular and respiratory diseases caused by PM10 in Karaj in the period 2016–2021. Methods In this descriptive-analytical study, after consultation with the Ministry of the Environment, hourly data on PM10 concentrations were initially received from the air pollution station. After the primary and secondary processes and filtering, the data was evaluated with the AirQ2.2.3 software. Results The results showed that the mean annual concentration of PM10 during 2016–2021 was 65.39, 5913, 48.45, 46.05, 58.95and 38.30 µg /m 3 , respectively. The hospitalized number of cases following respiratory disease attributed to PM10 in this period were 853, 774, 627, 588, 293, 551 subjects, respectively, and following cardiovascular disease were 330, 300, 243, 228, 293, 213 subjects, respectively. Conclusion The results suggest that health attributed to PM10 decreases in hospital admission rate over time from 2016 to 2021.