The health impact assessment of particulate matter (PM 2.5) in Thailand

Abstract

Particular Matter with diameter <2.5 microns or micrometers (a pollutant PM2.5) is highlighted as dangerous kind of pollutant in the worldwide. There were epidemiological studies reporting the harmful effects of PM2.5 in population due to the particle can lead various chronic diseases and premature deaths.

The aim of this study is to assess the changes in health due to short- and long-term exposure and to provide the estimation attributed cases and proportion in the Thai population which could be avoid where the PM2.5 concentration reduce to the cut-off values that respected

I collected data of PM2.5 concentration from 70 air monitoring stations of Pollution Department Control Thailand to indicate all provinces. For missing data, the values were calculated using the single imputation technique. The Ordinary Kriging Techniques were applied to construct the interpolations of PM2.5 concentration data for each district. I collected national health data including total number morbidity and mortality incidences related with negative effects from PM2.5 exposure in all provinces from Ministry of Public Health, Thailand. Total numbers of population all ages for specific province have been collected, where people ages >30 years old as population at risk on this study. This study presents all data that collected in 2019. Air Q+ Software is a tool that developed by World Health Organization, and it used to calculate the changes and health effects of air pollutant PM2.5 in population. All data were input to Air Q+ tool and the calculation parameters are based on epidemiological analysis.

In 2019, Total population at risk or people ages >30 years old was 40,572,731 people or 60,957.6 per 100,000 population for 77 provinces in Thailand, where 60.98% from the total population for all ages. The range of daily PM2.5 concentration in 2019 for entwere provinces was between 1.28 and 229.52 ug/m3. The annual mean PM2.5 for national level was 24.14 μg/m3. Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya had high PM2.5 mean at 32.79 μm3 in 2019, followed by Ang Thong and Kalasin. The results from Air Q+ software estimated attributed proportion and cases in variation of cut-off values. All estimations indicate the reduction proportion and case that can be achieved if PM2.5 concentration meets the cut-off value. If the daily average in Thailand meets the targeted standard at 37.5 μg/m3 it can reduce around 2 per 100,000 population from the burden all short-term mortality cases in 2019. And, if the annual average in Thailand meets the targeted standard at 15 μg/m3 it can reduce around 82 per 100,000 population from the burden all long-term mortality cases in 2019.

The result demonstrated the significant impacts of short- and long-term exposure of PM2.5 on Thai population. From this study, the estimations suggest the roadmap for policy maker and stakeholder to improve air pollution risk and management actions as the ways to protect population.