The Relationships between Air Pollution, Warming, and Health in Tehran Metropolis, Iran, during 2015–2019

Kosar  Daneshipour; Armin  Naghipour; Abdullah Kaviani  Rad

doi:10.18502/jehsd.v8i4.14436

Kosar Daneshipour Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Tehran North Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
Armin Naghipour Clinical Research Development Center of Imam Khomeini Hospital and Dr. Mohammad Kermanshahi and Farabi, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran.
Abdullah Kaviani Rad Department of Environmental Engineering and Natural Resources, School of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/jehsd.v8i4.14436

Keywords: Air Pollution, Global Warming, Climate Change, Temperature, Health.

Abstract

Introduction: Since global warming and air pollution was caused by human activities have increased dramatically in recent decades, studies have been conducted to determine how environmental parameters and air pollutants interact and, subsequently, how these pollutants affect ecosystems and human health. Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between temperature and air pollutants in Tehran, Iran, in order to determine whether warming is associated with an increase in air pollutants.

Materials and Methods: During 2015-2019, Iran Air Quality Monitoring Station (AQMS) and the Landsat 8 satellite were employed to retrieve data on pollutants such as PM, CO, O₃, NO₂, SO₂, and air quality index (AQI), as well as climate-related metrics including ambient temperature and land surface temperature (LST). Pearson correlation coefficient and linear regression model were used to analyze the data.

Results: A positive correlation was found between temperature variables and PM₁₀ (ρ = 0.29, p = 0.001) and O₃ (ρ= 0.55, p = 0.001) pollutants. PM₁₀ and O₃ levels were evaluated by 0.46 (95% Confidence Interval (CI) = (0.25, 0.67), p = 0.001) and 1.13 (95% CI = 0.89, 1.37), p = 0.001) units for each one-unit rise in temperature.

Conclusion: Given the fact that temperature predominantly evidenced a significant synergistic association with PM₁₀ and O₃, it was determined that there was no substantial positive association between all pollutants and warming.