Death from Cardiovascular Diseases and Air Pollution in Shiraz, Iran (March 2006-March 2012)

Background: There is evidence that shows exposure to air pollution might be related to cardiovascular death. This study aimed to estimate the effect of ambient air pollutants on cardiovascular deaths in Shiraz, Iran. Methods: In this ecological study, we inquired data about the number of cardiovascular deaths by gender and age; and recorded air pollutants data including nitric oxide (NO), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), particulate matter (PM10), sulfur dioxide (SO2), ozone (O3), methane (CH4), total hydrocarbons (THC) and nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHC) from 2006-2012. The association between air pollution and cardiovascular deaths was investigated by time series, cross correlations with and without lags with crude and adjusted negative binomial regression analysis through Minitab16 and Stata 11. Results: During this period, 17167 cardiovascular deaths occurred in Shiraz. After adjustment for confounding factors, NO and NOX were significantly related to total cardiovascular deaths; NO, NOX and SO2 were significantly related to deaths in women and SO2 was significantly related to deaths in the age of 18 to 60. NO and NOX pollutants were related to all cardiovascular deaths that happened one month later. Conclusion: The results of this study confirm the results of many other studies which show that air pollution can increase cardiovascular death.