The influence of season and living environment on children's urinary 1-hydroxypyrene levels in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Chen, Yi-Ting; Huang, Yu-Kai; Luvsan, Munkh-Erdene; Gombojav, Enkhjargal; Оchir, Chimedsuren; Bulgan, Jargal; Chan, Chang-Chuan

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2014.11.022

Cited by 21 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…The regression of levels of ambient pollutants against fetal death as a dose-response toxicity curve revealed very strong dose-dependent response correlations for SO 2 , with r > 0.9 (p < 0.001), in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia [18]. Although the urinary levels of 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP) of Mongolian children have been shown to be associated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) co-pollutants, SO 2 and NO 2 were significantly elevated during the cold season and for those living in ger areas or block brick houses in Ulaanbaatar [19]. Other evidence has shown that increased winter temperature, increased summer drought, and acidic deposition in conjunction with SO 2 pose a serious threat to the forest in the vicinity of Ulaanbaatar [20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Origin and Background Estimation of Sulfur Dioxide in Ulaanbaatar, 2017

Prikaz

Fang

Dash³

et al. 2018

Environments

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Particulate matter studies have been conducted regularly in the capital city of Mongolia. In contrast, studies related to the source and general estimation of levels of sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) over whole years are lacking. To explore the yearly trend in SO 2 , whole-year data of air pollutants were obtained from the Air Pollution Reducing Department. The results showed that the annual average concentration of SO 2 was 32.43 µg/m 3 at the Amgalan official monitoring station in 2017, which changed from 53 µg/m 3 in 2016, representing a reduction of around 40%. The back-trajectory model and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s hybrid single particle Lagrangian integrated trajectory model (HYPSLIT) were used to determine the source of SO 2 . A total of 8760 backward trajectories were divided into eight groups. The results showed that 78.8% of the total trajectories in Ulaanbaatar came from an area inside Mongolia. The results showed that pollutants enter Ulaanbaatar mainly from the northwest and north during the winter season. There are industrial cities, such as Darkhan and Sukhbaatar, in North Mongolia. Air pollutants created in the industrial area traveled into Ulaanbaatar during the winter season.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Origin and Background Estimation of Sulfur Dioxide in Ulaanbaatar, 2017

Prikaz

Fang

Dash³

et al. 2018

Environments

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“…In Mongolia, air pollution has been reported to enhance urinary excretion of 1-hydroxypyrene in children, which is a biomarker for polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) [6], byproducts derived from coal combustion exposure [7]. Dashdendev et al reported that carbon monoxide pollution contributed to the deterioration of lung function in Mongolian children [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of air pollution and seasons on health-related quality of life of Mongolian adults living in Ulaanbaatar: cross-sectional studies

et al. 2017

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BackgroundUlaanbaatar, Mongolia, is known as severely air-polluted city in the world due to increased coal consumption in the cold season. The health effects of air pollution in Mongolia such as mortality, morbidity and symptoms have been previously reported. However, the concept of health-related quality of life (HR-QoL), which refers to the individual’s perception of well-being, should also be included as an adverse health outcome of air pollution.MethodsSurveys on the Mongolian people living in Ulaanbaatar were performed in the warm and cold seasons. Self-completed questionnaires on the subjects’ HR-QoL, data from health checkups and pulmonary function tests by respiratory specialists were collected for Mongolian adults aged 40–79 years (n = 666). Ambient PM2.5 and PM10 were concurrently sampled and the components were analyzed to estimate the source of air pollution.ResultsIn logistic regression analyses, respiratory symptoms and smoke-rich fuels were associated with reduced HR-QoL (> 50th percentile vs. ≤ 50th percentile). PM 2.5 levels were much higher in the cold season (median 86.4 μg/m3 (IQR: 58.7–121.0)) than in the warm season (12.2 μg/m3 (8.9–21.2). The receptor model revealed that the high PM2.5 concentration in the cold season could be attributed to solid fuel combustion. The difference in HR-QoL between subjects with and without ventilatory impairment was assessed after the stratification of the subjects by season and household fuel type. There were no significant differences in HR-QoL between subjects with and without ventilatory impairment regardless of household fuel type in the warm season. In contrast, subjects with ventilatory impairment who used smoke-rich fuel in the cold season had a significantly lower HR-QoL.ConclusionsOur study showed that air pollution in Ulaanbaatar worsened in the cold season and was estimated to be contributed by solid fuel combustion. Various aspects of HR-QoL in subjects with ventilatory impairment using smoke-rich fuels deteriorated only in the cold season while those with normal lung function did not. These results suggest that countermeasures or interventions by the policymakers to reduce coal usage would improve HR-QoL of the residents of Ulaanbaatar, especially for those with ventilatory impairment in the winter months.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-017-4507-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…Environmental pollution of the air, water, and soil poses an increasingly urgent challenge to global health, well-being, and population productivity (1). The impact of environmental pollution arguably has its greatest impact across the lifespan on women of childbearing age, pregnant women and their unborn children, and young children, not only because of their special vulnerability during human development but also because of impairment of their subsequent well-being, productivity, and longevity (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Ulaanbaatar is the coldest capital city on Earth. Its average ambient temperatures routinely fall below 240 8 C/F between November and February. Ulaanbaatar has a population of approximately 1.5 million and is situated geographically in a river valley (Figure 1).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Gers are actually well adapted to the wintertime rural environment when spaced well apart (Figure 2, upper panel). During the extreme cold of the Mongolian winter, the "Ger district," with more than 200,000 closely spaced households, burns over 600,000 tons of coal for domestic heating (.3-5 tons per Ger) (6)(7)(8)(9)(10). Because individual Ger stoves have chimneys, much of the resulting particulate and gaseous pollution is expelled to the outside via the stove flues ( Figure 2, lower panel).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Impact of Seasonal Winter Air Pollution on Health across the Lifespan in Mongolia and Some Putative Solutions

Warburton

Wigfall

et al. 2018

Annals ATS

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Environmental pollution of the air, water, and soil comprise an increasingly urgent challenge to global health, well-being, and productivity. The impact of environmental pollution arguably has its greatest impact across the lifespan on children, women of childbearing age, and pregnant women and their unborn children, not only because of their vulnerability during development, but also because of their subsequent longevity. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, is a highly instructive, perhaps extreme, example of what happens with recent, rapid urbanization. It is the coldest capital city on Earth, where average ambient temperatures routinely fall below -40°C/F between November and February. During the cold winter period, more than 200,000 "Gers" (traditional felt-lined dwellings) in the "Ger district" burn over 600,000 tons of coal for domestic heating (>3 tons each). Thus, outdoor ambient particulate levels frequently exceed 100 times the WHO-recommended safety level for sustained periods of time, and drive the majority of personal particulate matter exposure. Indoor levels of exposure are somewhat lower in this setting because Gers are equipped with chimneys. Major adverse health impacts that we have documented in the Ger districts include the following: respiratory diseases among those between 1 and 59 years of age and cardiac diseases in those over 60; alarming increases in lung cancer rates in females are also beginning to emerge; and fertility and subsequent successful completion of term pregnancy falls by up to half during the winter pollution season, while early fetal death rises by fourfold. However, the World Bank has intervened with a Ger stove replacement project that has progressively reduced winter pollution by about 30% over the past 5 years, and this has been accompanied by an increase in mean term birth weight of up to 100g. Each incremental decrement in air pollution clearly has beneficial effects on pregnancy, which are likely to have the greatest positive health and macroeconomic impact across the lifespan. However, innovative policies and solutions are clearly needed to eliminate coal heating in Gers and thus further reduce the markedly negative health impact of this practice.

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The influence of season and living environment on children's urinary 1-hydroxypyrene levels in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Cited by 21 publications

References 18 publications

Origin and Background Estimation of Sulfur Dioxide in Ulaanbaatar, 2017

Origin and Background Estimation of Sulfur Dioxide in Ulaanbaatar, 2017

Effects of air pollution and seasons on health-related quality of life of Mongolian adults living in Ulaanbaatar: cross-sectional studies

Impact of Seasonal Winter Air Pollution on Health across the Lifespan in Mongolia and Some Putative Solutions

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