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Ambient air quality and asthma cases in Niğde, Turkey

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Abstract

Urban air quality is one of the key factors affecting human health. Turkey has transformed itself into an urban society over the last 30 years. At the same time, air pollution has become a serious impairment to health in many urban areas in the country. This is due to many reasons. In this study, a nonparametric evaluation was conducted of health effects that are triggered by urban air pollution. Niğde, the city which is the administrative centre of Nigde province was chosen of the effects of air pollution since, like many central Turkish cities, it is situated on a valley where atmospheric inversion occurs. In this paper, the relationship between ambient urban air quality, namely PM10 and sulphur dioxide (SO2), and human health, specifically asthma, during the winter season is examined. Air pollution data and asthma cases from 2006 to 2010 are covered in this study. The results of our study indicate that total asthma cases reported in Nigde between 2008 and 2010 were highly dependent on ambient SO2 concentration. More asthma cases were recorded when 30 μg m−3 or higher SO2 was present in the ambient air than those recorded under cleaner ambient air conditions. Moreover, it was determined that in Nigde in 2010, asthma cases reported in males aged between 45 and 64 were closely correlated with ambient SO2 (α = 0.05).

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank two anonymous reviewers who contributed to improving the quality of this paper. We are also very grateful to Nigde State Hospital’s administration and staff. Without their help, it would have been impossible to produce this paper. We also would like to thank Mr. Alex Raynham for checking and correcting grammatical errors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Public Health, Çukurova University Faculty of Medicine, Adana, Turkey

    Ertan Kara

  2. Faculty of Engineering, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Terzioglu Campus, 17020, Canakkale, Turkey

    Hasan Göksel Özdilek

  3. Dept. of Environmental Engineering, Niğde University Faculty of Engineering, Nigde, Turkey

    Emine Erman Kara

Authors
  1. Ertan Kara
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  2. Hasan Göksel Özdilek
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  3. Emine Erman Kara
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Correspondence to Emine Erman Kara.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Kara, E., Özdilek, H.G. & Kara, E.E. Ambient air quality and asthma cases in Niğde, Turkey. Environ Sci Pollut Res 20, 4225–4234 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-012-1376-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-012-1376-0

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