Levels and health risk assessment of PM10 aerosol in Brno, Czech republic

Abstract

Objective: The main effort of this work was to evaluate the situation of the atmosphere in selected regions of Brno during the years 2009-2013 and to estimate health risks which might come up due to the increased concentrations of airborne particulate matter. Methods: PM10 samples were collected in four areas varying in degree of automobile traffic using automatic and gravimetric sampling methods. PM10 concentrations were assessed using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. Health risks were estimated based on calculation of relative risks and population for four health endpoints. The selected health outcomes were premature mortality, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and chronic bronchitis. Results: The highest PM concentrations were measured in two regions with high traffic loads T1, T2 and background region B2. The values were 34.33 ± 11.52 μg∙m−3 in 2010, 34.87 ± 12.03 μg∙m−3 in 2013 and 34.52 ± 8.81 μg∙m−3 in 2009, respectively. The highest correlation was between T1 and T2 having Spearman correlation coefficient 0.888 followed by T1-B1 pair with coefficient 0.886. For all health outcomes, the highest health effect of PM (E) was determined for T2 site in 2010 which was 48 ± 14, 49 ± 21, 44 ± 19 and 24 ± 10 for premature mortality, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and chronic bronchitis, respectively. Conclusion: The concentrations are highly correlated, especially in traffic regions. The annual concentrations did not exceed the legislation limit but 24-hours limit was exceeded more than two times in several cases. The highest number of cases with a given health outcome was estimated in traffic regions especially for cardiovascular disease and premature mortality.