Ambient Air Quality and The Incidence of Selected Diseases: Some Urban Health Observations in Lagos, Nigeria
Keywords:
Airborne diseases, Air pollution. Criteria pollutants, Ambient airAbstract
The quality of air is determined by the extent of atmospheric pollution. The USEPA identifies six criteria pollutants namely particulate matter (PM), ground level ozone, carbon monoxide, sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides and lead exposure as toxic and injurious to human health. Thus, the need to examine ambient air quality and incidence of selected diseases in Lagos, Nigeria. The data for the study include a five year sampling on criteria pollutants and data on selected airborne diseases that were collected for the same period of time. Data analysis adopted the use of multiple regression in examining the relationship between ambient criteria pollutants and the occurrence of diseases. GIS procedure was also employed to produce a map showing the spatial pattern of criteria pollutants. The findings reveal an R2 of 19.8, 13.9, 8.9, 8.4 and 16.8 percent respectively for asthma, bronchitis, heart failure, lung cancer and tuberculosis. The results show a low level of association and this was attributed to other causal factors responsible for the occurrence of the selected diseases. However, this study provides evidence of an association between outdoor air pollution and increased risk from these diseases. Therefore, the study recommends that governments, and other stakeholders in health sectors should harmonise efforts, resources and ideas towards effective planning, monitoring, policy implementation and provision of facilities that could control and ameliorate the presence of pollutants to which urban residents are exposed thereby reducing the health effects from such exposures.References
Akinola, A. K., Suleiman, A. A., Adeleye, Y. B., Anifowose,
F.O. & Dauda, R. A. (2014). Air pollution and climate
change in Lagos, Nigeria: Needs for proactive
approaches to risk management and adaptation.
American Journal of Environmental Sciences,10 (4),
-423.
American Heart Association (2010). Air pollution and heart
disease, stroke. Retrieved from
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/More/My
HeartandStrokeNews/Air-Pollution-and-Heart-DiseaseStroke_UCM_442923_Article.jsp#.VwkxeeJquKk
updated August 7, 2015. Accessed April 09, 2016
Anjaneyulu, Y. (2005), Introduction to environmental
science. Hyderabad India, BS Publications
Atkinson, R. (2000). Atmospheric chemistry of VOCs and
NOX. Atmospheric Environment 34, 2063–2101
Briggs, D. (2003). Environmental pollution and the global
burden of diseases. Br Med Bulletin, 68, 1– 24.
Brunekreef, B. (2005). Out of Africa: Occupational and
Environmental Medicine Journal,62 (6), 351- 2.
Burnett, R. T., Cakmak, S. & Brook, J., R. (1998). The
effect of urban ambient air pollution mix on
daily mortality rates in eleven Canadian cities.
Canadian Journal of Public Health,89 (3), 152-6
Charlesworth, S., De Miguel, E. & Ordonez, A. (2010). A
review of the distribution of particulate trace
elements in urban terrestrial environments and its
application to considerations of risk. Environ.
Geochem. Health, 33 (2) 103-123
COMEAP (1995). Air Pollution and Asthma. Retrieved from
http://www.healthyair.org.uk/air- pollution-andasthma/. Accessed April 10, 2016.
Das, R.C. & Behera, D. K. (2008). Environmental science
principles and practice. New Delhi India, Prentice
Hall of India.
Dennison, L., Rolfe, K. & Graham, B. (2002). Review of the
ambient air quality guidelines – health effect of
five common air contaminants and recommended
protective ranges. Ministry for the Environment
Technical Report No. 12
Ediagbonya, T. F., Ukpebor, E. E., Okieimen, F. E. &
Okungbowa, G. E. (2012). Comparative study
of TSP, inhalable particles and respirable particles
in urban and rural areas in Niger Delta
region of Nigeria. Greener Journal of Physical
Sciences,2 (3), 89-96.
Ekpenyong, C. E., Ettebong, E. O., Akpan, E. E., Samson, T.
K. & Daniel, N. E. (2012). Urban city
transportation mode and respiratory health effect of
air pollution: A cross-sectional study among transit
and non-transit workers in Nigeria. BMJ OPEN, 2, 5-
Garg, S. K., Garg, R. & Garg, R. (2006). Environmental
science and ecological studies. Delhi, Khanna
Publishers Hyderabad India.
Hopkins, J. R., Evans, M. J., Lee, J. D., Lewis, A. C.,
Marsham, J. H., McQuaid, J. B. & Purvis, R. M.
(2009). Direct estimates of emission from the
Megacity of Lagos. Atmospheric Chemistry and
Physics 9, 8471–8477
Hwang, S. S., Kang, S., Lee, J. Y., Lee, J. S., Hee, J. K.,
Sung, K. H. & Yim, J. J. (2014). Impact of
outdoor air pollution on the incidence of
tuberculosis in the Seoul metropolitan area, South
Korea. The Korean Journal of Internal Medicine, 29
(2), 183-190
Inyang, P. (1978). Environmental pollution in some Nigerian
towns in urbanization processes and problems in
Nigeria. Ibadan, Ibadan University Press
Koku, C.A., Osuntogun, B.A. (2007). Environmental
impacts of road transportation in South-Western
States of Nigeria. Journal of Applied Sciences. 7 (16),
-2360
Koren, H. S. (1995). Associations between Criteria Air
Pollutants and Asthma. Environmental
Health Perspective,103 (6), 235-242.
Kunzli, N., Kaiser, R., & Medina, S. (2000). Public Health
Impact of Outdoor and Traffic Related Air
Pollution: A European Assessment. The Lancet, 356,
-801.
Laro, K. O. & Raheem, U. A. (2017). Risk assessment of
toxicity potential for criteria ambient air
pollutants in selected areas of Lagos, Nigeria.
AfricaJournal of sustainable development,
Centre for Sustainable Development, University of
Ibadan. Ibadan (Under- Review)
Lirong, Z., Xinming, W., Quisheng, H., Hao, W., Guoying,
S., Chan, L.Y., Jiamo, F. & Blake, D. R.
(2004). Exposure to hazardous volatile organic
compounds, PM and CO while walking along 10
streets in urban Guangzhou, China. Atmospheric
Environment, 38, 6177– 6184
Mathuros, R., Daam, S., Panida, N., Jantamas, T., Herman,
A. (2006). Assessment of potential cancer risk in
children exposed to urban air pollution in Bangkok.
Elsevier Ireland, Thailand. 1–10.
Nigel, B., Rogelio, P. P., Racheal, A. (2002). The health
effects of indoor air pollution exposure in
developing countries. World health Organization,
Protection of the human environment, Geneva.
–41
Ogunbi, O., Fadahunsi, H. O Ahmed, I., Animashaun, A. &
Daniel S.O. (1978). An epidemiological study of
rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in Lagos.
J. Epidemiol. Commun. Health, 32, 68-71. DOI:
th 10.1136/jech.32.1.68, Retrieved 14 Sept, 2018.
Olowoporoku, A. J., Longhurst, A. & Barnes, J. (2012).
Framing air pollution as a major health risk in Lagos,
Nigeria. In: Air Pollution, Brebbia, X. X. C. & J.
Longhurst (Eds.), Southampton and Boston: WIT
Press, ISBN-10: 9781845645823, pp: 479-486.
Olukayode, T., (2005). The case of Lagos: Air quality
improvement project, Lagos Metropolitan Area
Transport Authority (LAMATA) 1–22
Osuntogun, B. A., Koku, C. A. (2007). Environmental
impacts of urban road transportation in
South-Western states of Nigeria. Journal of Applied
Sciences 7 (16), 2356–2360
Parakash, E., Gauderman, W. J. & Peters, J. (2006).
Childhood asthma and exposure to traffic and
nitrogen dioxide, Epidemiology Journal, 16 (2), 737 –743
Peters, A., Dockery, D. W., Muller, J. E., Mittleman, M. A.
(2001). Increased particulate air pollution and
the triggering of myocardial infarction. Journal of the
American Heart Association 103, 2810–2815.
Pope, C. A., Burnett, R. T., Thun, M. J., Calle, E. E.,
Krewski, D., Ito, K., & Thurston, G. D.
(2002). Lung cancer, cardiopulmonary mortality, and
long-term exposure to fine particulate air
pollution. Journal of the American Medical
Association, 287 (9), 1132–1141.
Taiwo, O. (2009). Carbon dioxide emission management in
Nigerian megacities: The case of Lagos. Presentation
at United Nation Environmental Protection.
Tiwary, A. (2009). An integrated tool to assess the role of
new planting in PM10 capture and the human health
benefits: A case study in London, Environmental
Pollution, 157, 2645–2653
USEPA (2012). Criteria Air Pollutants. Retrieved from
http://www.epa.gov/air/ urban air Accessed
September 15, 2015.
United Nations (2012). World Urbanization Prospects: the
Revision. CD-ROM Edition.
WHO (2002). Systemic review of health aspects of AQ
Europe. An overview of the St. George's
project. A systemic review of the epidemiological
literature on the short-term health effects of
outdoor air pollution, St. George's Hospital, London,
United Kingdom
WHO (2005). Air Quality Guidelines: Global Update.
Particulate Matter, Ozone, Nitrogen Dioxide and
Sulphur Dioxide. Retrieved from
global-update-2005.-particulate- matter,-ozone,-
nitrogen-dioxide-and-sulfur-dioxide. Accessed March
, 2016.
WHO (2011). Exposure to Air Pollution (Particulate Matter)
In Outdoor Air. Copenhagen, WHO
Regional Office for Europe, 2011 (ENHIS Factsheet
3)
(http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018
/97002/ENHIS_Factsheet _3.3_July_2011.pdf,
accessed September 12, 2016.
WHO, IARC (2013). Outdoor Air Pollution Causes Cancer.
Retrieved from
http://www.cancer.org/cancer/news/world-healthorganization-outdoor-air-pollution- causes-cancer.
Accessed March 16, 2016
WHO (2014). Air quality and health, fact sheet No. 313,
WHO Media Centre. Retrieved from
http://www.who.int/mediacenter/factsheets/fs313/en/.
Accessed September 10, 2015
World Bank (1978). Air Pollution, Atmospheric air pollution
in Industrialised nations, World Bank Journal, 2 (4),
th 12-14 http://www.lagosstategov.ng/retrieved 25
March, 2016
