Integration of AirQ⁺ and particulate matter mass concentration to calculate health and ecological constraints in Islamabad, Pakistan

Islamabad is the famous capital city of Pakistan, highly appreciated in the world due to its greenery and clean environment. However, rapid urbanization and massive traffic flux deteriorating health status and ecology of Islamabad. Principally, particulate matter (PM) pollution is a limiting factor for health and ecological stability. The present study aimed to evaluate the air quality to assess the health and ecological impacts assessment in Islamabad. Two parallel medium volume air samplers at a flow rate of 100L/min were used to obtain PM samples on Whatman 47 mm quartz filter. The results revealed that PM2.5 is more deteriorating for ecology and reduced outdoor activities especially in winter with 23 unhealthy days from 30 days of sampling. For other seasons PM2.5 remained moderate to good to moderate while PM10 showed moderate to good air quality index in four seasons. The obtained mean PM concentration was used to estimate eight health endpoints by AirQ⁺ software (WHO). The health endpoints attributable to PM2.5 long duration exposure, 2139, 26 and 24 deaths were calculated for all-cause, heart disease and lung cancer (LC) mortality respectively while short-term exposure attributed to 137 and 38 hospital admission due to respiratory and cardiovascular disorders per annum respectively. In the case of PM10, long exposure estimated to cause 488 and 239 deaths by an incident of chronic bronchitis in adults and postneonatal infant's all-cause mortality. Subsequently, short-term exposure of PM10 amounted to caused asthma in 26 children per annum in Islamabad.