Air Quality, Particulate Matter, And Geographic
Characterization In A Potential Asthma Prone
Region Of Eastern Central Puerto Rico
Author(s)
R. Suro-Maldonado, A. Gonzalez & A. Rivera-Rentas
Abstract
Asthma is a rapidly growing worldwide chronic disease with an increase in both
prevalence and exacerbations throughout the late twentieth century. Air
pollution and asthma in the Caribbean are a major environmental health issue
and a costly public health concern. CDC reports showed that Puerto Rico had a
significantly higher overall prevalence of lifetime (19.6%) and current (11.6%)
asthma in the US. The central eastern region of the island has the highest
prevalence in the age range 0-17. This work examines ambient air measurements
of particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), coupled with the spatial variations
between rural and urban areas to study the relationship between air quality,
anthropogenic activities, natural resources, and asthma occurrence. We sampled
in the 11 communities of the municipality of Caguas, five (5) classified as urban
districts and six (6) as rural areas. Our results indicate that on average the urban
districts presented higher particulate matter concentrations than the rural areas.
These higher concentrations in the urban districts may have anthropogenic
origins while results from rural areas may have geomorphologic bases. Our
results also revealed particulate matter concentrations at some areas and at
certain time periods that were above the US National Ambient Air Quality
Standards. The latter may be related to the high asthma prevalence reported for
the municipality.
Keywords: air quality, particulate matter, asthma, forests, Puerto Rico.
1 Introduction
Asthma is a rapidly growing worldwide chronic disease with an increase in both
prevalence and exacerbations throughout the late twentieth century, with
Keywords
air quality, particulate matter, asthma, forests, Puerto Rico.
Related Book
Other papers in this volume
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