Long-term effects of air pollutants on deaths in a semi-urban city in Northwestern Turkey: a time series analysis.

To examine the associations between daily variations of coarse Particulate Matter(PM 10 ) and/or sulfur dioxide(SO 2 ) and mortality. The Poisson Generalized Linear Model(GLM) was employed to analyze the relationship between ambient air pollutants such as PM 10 and SO 2 and mortality. For each 10 μg/m 3 increase in PM 10 , the overall mortality risk was found to be 1.022-fold high on the previous-eighth-day(lag 7) (RR, 95%CI:1.002-1.042) in the unadjusted model; 1.031-fold high in men (RR, 95%CI:1.005-1.058); 1.024-fold high in those aged 65 and over (RR, 95%CI:1.001-1.048). Also, the risk of death in men was 1.028-fold high in the model adjusted on the previous- eighth-day(lag 7) (RR, 95%CI:1.002-1.055). Mortality risk was found to be 1.088-fold high in 10 μg/m 3 increase in SO 2 under 65 years in males in the previous-third-day(lag 2) in the unadjusted model, and the risk of death was found to be 1.086-fold (RR, 95%CI:1.007-1.164) high in males in the adjusted model.   .