Philippine E-Journals

Air Pollution Attributable Deaths: A Global View through Fractal Analysis

Melvin R. De Castro | Tonette M. Villanueva | Grace C. Arcamo | Rayna Lynn De Castro

Discipline: Health

 

Abstract:

Air pollution is a global public health threat which requires in depth analysis for policy making. It contributes to the mortality in many urban areas. This study compares the variability of the clustered urban areas based on World Health Organization (WHO) region classified in terms of exposure to particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 10 μm or less (PM10) from 2003-2010 and validated through its attributable death from 2004 & 2008. These diverse data were subjected for analysis employing fractal geometry and fractal statistics to compute its respective fractal dimensions. The purpose of such comparison is to validate a possible causative factor of the mortality. Findings revealed that the region with high variability in terms of fractal dimension in air pollution also displays more varied attributable death. This pattern is both demonstrated in all region.The paper concludes that the policies on environmental conservations in controlling air pollution and health care delivery system greatly contributes to the high fractal dimension of air pollution attributable death.