Effect of Airborne Particulate Matter on Cardiovascular Diseases

Context: Airborne particulate matter (PM) attracts heightened attention due to its implication in various diseases, especially cardiovascular diseases. Although numerous epidemiological studies have been published worldwide in developing countries on risks associated with exposure to PM, such studies are still scarce in developing countries such as Saudi Arabia. Objective: To examine the association between the concentration of airborne particulate matter (PM) and hospital admissions resulting from cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia, specifically in the cities of Dammam and Khobar. Methodology: The daily concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 were obtained from 10 monitoring stations distributed around the two hospitals. There was an examination of the discharge data of patients diagnosed with cardiac arrhythmias, acute myocardial infarction, and heart failure as their primary diagnoses. The data were obtained from two big governmental hospitals in the Eastern Region. The primary cause of hospital admission of 259 patients was identified as acute cardiac condition. Results: For PM10 and PM2.5, the 24 h mean was calculated as 101.2 and 37.1 µg/m3, respectively; such means are considered higher than the Air Quality Guidelines (AQGs). We found evidence of an increased risk of cardiovascular events for long-term exposure to PM2.5–10 concentrations, and a correlation with the IHD hospital admission within 6 days of the peak PM10 or PM2.5 concentration. In addition, the increased PM2.5 concentration also had a correlation with hospital admissions; however, analysis shows an increase in mortality at lag1, lag2, and lag3 prior to hospital admission. Conclusions: Hospital admissions for several cardiovascular diseases acutely increase in response to higher ambient PM concentrations. It is recommended that residents need to use personal protection, especially those residents with cardiovascular disease, while the government needs to strengthen the governance of air pollution in areas with lighter air pollution.