#Onul N.M. ATMOSPHERIC AIR CONTAMINATION AS A RISK-FACTOR FOR THE POPULATION HEALTH

Onul N.M.

State Establishment "Dnipropetrovsk Medical Academy of Health Ministry of Ukraine", Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine

ATMOSPHERIC AIR CONTAMINATION AS A RISK-FACTOR

FOR THE POPULATION HEALTH

Air pollution - a priority risk factor for health, because aerogenic way of harmful factors intake traditionally belongs to the most dangerous for humans [1]. Today atmospheric air is undergoing intensive technogenic pollution, which takes a global character almost in all countries of Europe, including our country. Only 15.3% of the population live in conditions of a low level of contamination, 52.8% - of moderate, 24.3% - of high and 7.6% - of a very high level of contamination [2].

The aim of research - complex ecological and hygienic evaluation of ecologically contrasting cities atmospheric air quality.

Materials and methods. Hygienic analysis of content of basic and specific contaminants by average daily and maximum single concentration in the air of residential zone of industrial cities - Dnipropetrovsk and Kryvyy Rih, and «clean» city Novomoskovsk for the 5-years period was done. Evaluation of air pollution was carried out by values of actual pollutant content, ratio of exceeding the maximum permissible concentration (MPC), percentage of non-standard samples according to [3], and background levels for unpolluted areas. In addition, the analysis of total level of air pollution by air pollution index (API) was calculated [4]. Due to the simultaneous presence in the air of the following pollutants - sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and phenol, for which biological effect of summation is estimated [3], the coefficient of the combined action of these substances (C_CA) by the sum of their ratio MPC excess, which should not exceed 1, was calculated. The results are processed by traditional methods of variation statistics using licensed statistical programs.

Results and discussion. It is revealed, that superficial atmospheric layer of industrial cities containing basic and specific pollutants in concentrations that are 1.1-5.0 MPC for dust, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, formaldehyde, ammonia, phenol and benzopyrene (p<0,05-p<0.001) in excess of background levels almost for all pollutants, including heavy metals in 2.4-30.0 times (p<0.01), data of the control city - in 1.9-25.0 times (p<0.001).

The maximum single concentration of chemicals in the air of industrial cities are 0.03-24.8 MPC. The highest frequency of maximum permissible concentration characteristic of hydrogen sulphide (10.3 MPC), carbon monoxide (6.0 MPC) and dust (4.0 MPC), which correlates with the respective most significant percentage of non-standard samples - 75-100% and represents the degree of air pollution as "inadmissible " and "very dangerous."

This situation forms a "high" and "very high" level of total air pollution in Dnipropetrovsk (API = 11.02) and Kryvyy Rih (API = 19.45), which in 5.3-9.4 times (p<0.01) higher compared to the data of the control city Novomoskovsk (API = 2.08), confirming the legality of their choice as an environmentally contrasting areas in future epidemiological and clinical-hygienic studies.

Our results coincide with other studies [5], according to which the quality of air in Kryvyy Rih and Dnipropetrovsk ranks 14th and 15th in the list of most polluted cities in Ukraine. As the API is calculated by the average concentration of pollutants, it may serve as an indicator of chronic action of technogenic pollution of the city on public health [4] and used in the development of prognostic models.

Coefficient of the combined action (C_CA) at the simultaneous presence of sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and phenol in the air of Dnipropetrovsk is 3.77 с.u., Kryvyy Rih – 12.22 c.u., which considerably exceeds the regulated value and testifies to a potential danger of combination of these toxicants in the existing concentrations to the inhabitants health.

In the dynamics of time there is a relative stability of contents of the most pollutants in the air of industrial cities. Exception is 1.3 times decrease of carbon monoxide content with increase of concentrations of dust and ammonia by 1.4-1.8 times.

Thus, the results of the research testify that anthropogenic contamination of the environment of Dnipropetrovskʼ region industrial cities is varied and intense. For a number of pollutants exceeding of hygienic standards is determined both by average daily and maximum single concentration. At the same time their simultaneous presence creates an increased and long-term technogenic load on the organism of residents, this increases the risk to human health, especially on its hypersensitive strata - pregnant women, children and the elderly [2, 6].

References

1. Biletska E.M. Contamination of industrial city atmospheric air as an actual ecological and hygienic problem / Е.М. Biletska, N.M. Onul, O.V. Antonova // Nauka i studia. 2014; 8 (118): 35-42.

2. Polka N.S. Preservation of the environment and the health of the nation in materials of the XV Congress of Ukraine hygienists / N.S. Polka, V.I. Fedorenko, B.A. Plastunov // Environment and Health. 2013; 2 (65): 68-80. (in Ukrainian).

3. SSR-201-97. State Sanitary Rules protection of atmospheric air of populated areas (from pollution by chemical and biological agents). К.: MH of Ukraine; 1997. (in Ukrainian).

4. Bezuglaya E.Yu. Air of cities and its changes / E.Yu.Bezuglaya, I.V.Smirnova. SPb.: Asteron; 2008. (in Russian).

5. State of environmental pollution in the territory of Ukraine according to the observations of meteorological organizations in 2011. [E-resource]. Access mode: http://www.cgo.kiev.ua/index.php?fn=3&f=ukraine/data-zabrud. (in Ukrainian).

6. Hygienic priorities of evaluation of technogenic environmental contamination as a risk factor for human health - development of problems / Bіletska E.M., Onul N.M., Golovkova T.A. [et al.] // Hygienic science and practice: current realities: Materials of the XV Congress of Ukraine hygienists. L'viv; 2012: 446-448. (in Ukrainian).