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. 2008 Sep;116(9):1179-82.
doi: 10.1289/ehp.10849.

The Public Health and Air Pollution in Asia (PAPA) Project: estimating the mortality effects of particulate matter in Bangkok, Thailand

Nuntavarn Vichit-Vadakan  1 , Nitaya Vajanapoom, Bart Ostro
Affiliations

The Public Health and Air Pollution in Asia (PAPA) Project: estimating the mortality effects of particulate matter in Bangkok, Thailand

Nuntavarn Vichit-Vadakan et al. Environ Health Perspect. 2008 Sep.

Abstract

Background: Air pollution data in Bangkok, Thailand, indicate that levels of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter < or = 10 microm (PM(10)) are significantly higher than in most cities in North America and Western Europe, where the health effects of PM(10) are well documented. However, the pollution mix, seasonality, and demographics are different from those in developed Western countries. It is important, therefore, to determine whether the large metropolitan area of Bangkok is subject to similar effects of PM(10).

Objectives: This study was designed to investigate the mortality risk from air pollution in Bangkok, Thailand.

Methods: The study period extended from 1999 to 2003, for which the Ministry of Public Health provided the mortality data. Measures of air pollution were derived from air monitoring stations, and information on temperature and relative humidity was obtained from the weather station in central Bangkok. The statistical analysis followed the common protocol for the multicity PAPA (Public Health and Air Pollution Project in Asia) project in using a natural cubic spline model with smooths of time and weather.

Results: The excess risk for non-accidental mortality was 1.3% [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.8-1.7] per 10 microg/m(3) of PM(10), with higher excess risks for cardiovascular and above age 65 mortality of 1.9% (95% CI, 0.8-3.0) and 1.5% (95% CI, 0.9-2.1), respectively. In addition, the effects from PM(10) appear to be consistent in multipollutant models.

Conclusions: The results suggest strong associations between several different mortality outcomes and PM(10). In many cases, the effect estimates were higher than those typically reported in Western industrialized nations.

Keywords: Bangkok; PM10; air pollution; mortality; time series.

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Comment in

  • Asia: changing times and changing problems.
    Speizer FE, Cohen A, Mehta S. Speizer FE, et al. Environ Health Perspect. 2008 Sep;116(9):A370-1. doi: 10.1289/ehp.11856. Environ Health Perspect. 2008. PMID: 18795176 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

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