Association of Smog and Fog with the Prevalence of Asthma and Pneumonia in the Population of Punjab

Abstract

The present study was conducted to assess the prevalence of asthma and pneumonia due to smog and fog in affected and normal population of males and females. The data was collected by means of questionnaires and interviews and by DHQ hospital Chiniot on 500 subjects. All subjects were categorized in two groups with respect to their age. Group A (age ≤ 43) and Group B (age ≤ 84), group A contained n_A =376 and group B contained n_B =124 subjects respectively. The parameters like height, weight, BMI, age and gender were included. The socio-economic status and family history was also included. All the data and parameters were analyzed statistically by using chi-square on SPSS software (version 22). The 73.6% subjects were showed the presence of Asthma and Pneumonia. The 33.6% samples were affected by Asthma (p≤0.0001), 40%were infected by Pneumonia (For A group p≤0.0001) (For B group p≤0.002) and 26.4% were normal and did not show any symptom. The climatic conditions such as temperature, humidity and weather (smog, fog) played vital role. The increased level of smog and fog is the cause of prevalence of many respiratory diseases such as shortness of breath (asthma) and pneumonia. The average temperature during October was 31°C, November 21°C, December 18°C, January 16°C, February 19°C and March was 27°C. The results of this study revealed that smog, fog, education and socio-economic status were also related to the prevalence of these diseases.