Ambient PM(10) and respiratory illnesses in Colombo City, Sri Lanka

Analysis of ambient air quality data monitored at Colombo Fort monitoring unit clearly revealed that PM(10) is the dominant air pollutant in the Colombo atmosphere. Further investigation showed that PM(10) has strong associations with three types of respiratory illnesses, especially among children. Among these associations, the disease category which includes bronchitis, emphysema and other chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases showed a prominent association with a correlation coefficient of 0.717 at 99% confidence. In addition, an application of health impact assessment software developed by WHO revealed that nearly 20% of Asthma patients recorded at LRH (the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children) in 2005 could be attributed to exposure to PM(10) in Colombo. It was observed that nearly 60% of the respiratory cases occurred at reasonably lower concentrations (below 80 mu gm(-3)) thus, future management plans aiming toward positive health impacts should focus on shifting the entire PM(10) pollution distribution towards lower ends.