Premature deaths and socio-economic status: The role of fine particulate matter in Türkiye (2019)

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Air pollution, particularly particulate matter (PM), is a leading environmental risk factor contributing to global morbidity and premature mortality. The World Health Organization's (WHO) AirQ+(c) software is a vital tool for assessing the health impacts of air pollution. Our study used this software to estimate premature deaths attributable to long-term particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure in T & uuml;rkiye in 2019 and explored its relationship with each province's socio-economic status. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We conducted an ecological study using annual average PM2.5 levels from air quality stations. Due to limited PM2.5 measurements (only 16% of stations), we derived PM2.5 values from PM10 data using WHO's conversion coefficient for T & uuml;rkiye. RESULTS: We identified the provinces with the highest PM2.5 concentrations and associated mortality: I & gbreve;d & imath;r, & Scedil;& imath;rnak, & Ccedil;orum, D & uuml;zce, and Kahramanmara & scedil;had the highest concentrations, while Erzurum, & Ccedil;orum, I & gbreve;d & imath;r, Sinop, and K & uuml;tahya had the highest mortality rates per 100,000 population. No significant correlation was found between premature deaths and the socio-economic development index of each province. Our study estimated 37,768 premature deaths attributed to long-term PM2.5 exposure in adequately monitored provinces. CONCLUSION: In 2019, T & uuml;rkiye faced persistent air pollution, with PM2.5 levels exceeding WHO's 2021 limits across all provinces and stations. T & uuml;rkiye lacks specific PM2.5 limits legislation. Our findings provide a fresh insight into the literature, highlighting policy reform needs. However, data deficiencies hindered analysis in some provinces, affecting nearly 20% of the population aged 30 and above and 31% of the total surface area. Therefore, the actual burden of air pollution-related deaths may be higher than our estimates, underscoring the need to address these challenges urgently.