Awang, Muhamad

Jaafar, Abu Bakar

Mohamad, Faridah

Noor, Hamdan

Othman, Zolkepli

Universiti Putra Malaysia Institutional Repository

UPM Research Report 1998: Volume 2THE IMPACT OF AIR POLLUTION ON PUBLICHEALTHHamdan Noor, Zolkepli Othman, Muhamad Awang,Faridah Mohamad and 'A. Bakar JaafarFaculty of Science and Environmental StudiesUniversiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor,Malaysia, IAlam Sekitar Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. (ASMA)Keywords: haze, air quality, health, respiratory physi-ology, PMIO.IntroductionSince the 1980s, air pollution level in Malaysia was main-tained well below the Malaysian Air Quality Guidelines(MAQG, 1989). However, slight increases were observedduring series of haze episodes in 1983, 1984, 1990, 1991,1994 and recently, through September 1997 (Noor eta1.l998a, b, c, d, e). The increase of gaseous pollutants dur-ing those times was of insignificant value, but the PMlOconcentration sharply elevated. Researchers elsewhere haveprovided ample evidence associating changes in pollutionlevel with adverse health effects, particularly the respiratorysystem. Since PMlO was the only pollutant that showedalarming increases during haze, we strongly believe that itwas the major problem. Despite the frequent cases of haze,and the worsening air quality especially in the Klang Valley,only a few groups focus on the health impacts it might bringto the public. This project was undertaken to: 1. Identify dis-eases associated with or aggravated by haze; 2. correlate theincidence of haze and the health status of the public; and 3.evaluate the respiratory functions of individuals exposed tohaze/ambient air pollution.Materials and MethodsDaily air quality data (Alam Sekitar Malaysia, ASMA) andhospital admission and outpatient data (from all main hospi-tals in Malaysia), especially during the period of haze will bere-analysed to identify diseases associated with or aggravatedby haze. The correlation between the pollutant levels and thehospital records were determined (objectives I and 2).To achieve objective 3, school children in areas with signifi-cantly different air quality levels were chosen as the studysubjects, one area with the lowest pollutant level served asreference. The subjects have to fill up a set of questionnaireand perform spirometry tests using a spirometer (VitalographLtd.) and spiroanalyzer (Fukuda-Sangyo). The data are ana-lysed using SPSS 8.0 for Windows.Results and DiscussionFrom the hospital data (Selangor only), we identified ARl,asthma and conjunctivitis as the diseases closely associatedand aggravated by the haze. Taking June as a referencemonth (period before haze), tremendous increase in the num-ber of these diseases was observed during September, espe-cially in adults. Total ARl cases increased from 6054 to34383 (5.7 fold, June to September 1997) and asthma 912 to2785437(6 fold). Conjunctivitis cases was also sharply elevated(207 to 3173, 13.7 fold). Even though the increase was sig-nificant, there was no statistically significant correlation be-tween the monthly number of cases and the average air qual-ity data (p<0.05). This contradicts our hypothesis that sug-gests a strong correlation between PMlO and those diseases.More effort should be done to gather enough information todetermine the exact relationship between these two parame-ters. So far, the data provided by the hospitals was pooledfrom nine districts in Selangor (not area-specific), and the airquality was averaged from five ASMA stations whichshowed significantly different measurements (Anova,p<0.05). However, the health data for Sarawak (Sept. 97)showed a significant relationship with the API readings (cor-relation, p<O.OI).The decreased number of cases in parallelto the reduction in PMlO level back to normal values afterSeptember observed in Selangor suggests that the effects arereversible.Studies on schoolchildren exposed to significantly differentlevels of ambient PMIO (l03.271lg/m3 vs. 47.35Ilg/m3) re-vealed that higher exposure leads to lower respiratory func-tions (VC, FVC, FEVI etc.). From the completed question-naire, those in areas of higher exposure reported higher inci-dence of respiratory symptoms, including runny nose, sorethroat, cough and chest tightness. In response to one of thequestions, only 41% of the schoolchildren who reported suf-fering illness or discomfort during the period of haze wentfor medical treatment.ConclusionsFrom the health and air quality data, supported by the sig-nificant positive correlation showed by the data for Sarawak,we strongly believe that high PMlO is detrimental to publichealth. However, the effects might be reversible. The studyon schoolchildren proved that long-term exposure to highPMIO level (even though below the MAQG, 150llg/m3)could reduce the lung function.ReferencesNoor, H., Rozita Johan, Zolkepli Othman and Faridah Mohamad.1998a. Impact of air quality in Kuala Lumpur on human lungfunction. Submitted to The Archives of Environmental Health.Noor, H., Yap, C.L., Zolkepli, O. and Faridah, M. 1998b. Effect ofexposure to dust on lung function of cement factory workers. TheMedical Journal of Malaysia. (submitted)Noor, H., Yap, CiY; Faridah Mohamad and Zolkepli Othman.1998c. The effect of exposure to dust on the lung function ofcement factory workers. Malaysian Science and TechnologyCongress '98. 23-25 Nov. 1998. Kota Kinabalu.Noor, H., Faridah Mohamad, Zolkepli Othman, Muhammad Awangand Abu Bakar Jaafar. 1998d. Haze and Health: Malaysian expe-rience. Regional workshop on the impacts of transboundry pollu-tion from forest fires in SEA & strategies for land use: planningand management. 27 Oct, 1998. UPMNoor, H., Faridah Mohamad, Zolkepli Othman, Norehan Rashid,Rozita Johan and Muhammad Awang. 1998e. Air pollution: Theimpact on human health. Proceedings of the National Sympo-sium on the Impact of Haze. UPM 21 April, 1998.Supported by IRPA Grant 08-02-04-00J8

The impact of air pollution on public health

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The impact of air pollution on public health

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