Relationship Between Air Pollution, Weather, Traffic, and Traffic-Related Mortality.
BACKGROUND
Air pollution and weather are just two of many environmental factors contributing to traffic accidents (RTA).


OBJECTIVE
This study assessed the effects of these factors on traffic accidents and related mortalities in Ahvaz, Iran.


METHODS
In this ecological study, data about RTA, traffic-related mortalities, air pollution (including NO, CO, NO2, NOxPM10, SO2, and O3rates) and climate data from March 2008 until March 2015 was acquired from the Khuzestan State Police Force, the Environmental Protection Agency and the State Meteorological Department. Statistical analysis was performed with STATA 12 through both crude and adjusted negative binomial regression methods.


RESULTS
There was a significant positive correlation between increase in the monthly average temperature, the number of rainy days, and the number of frost days with the number of RTA (P < 0.05). Increased monthly average relative humidity, evaporation, and number of sunny days were negatively correlated with the frequency of RTA (P < 0.05). We also observed an inverse significant correlation between monthly average relative humidity, evaporation, and wind speed with traffic accident mortality (P < 0.05). Some air pollutants were negatively associated with the incidence rate of RTA.


CONCLUSIONS
It appears that some weather variables were significantly associated with increased RTA. However, increased levels of air pollutants were not associated with increased rates of RTA and/or related mortalities. Additional studies are recommended to explore this topic in more detail.
Neurology Research Center, Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, IR Iran.
Maryam
M
Dastoorpoor
Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, IR Iran.
Esmaeil
E
Idani
Environmental Health Engineering Research Center, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, IR Iran.
Narges
N
Khanjani
Air Pollution and Respiratory Diseases Research Center, Environmental Technologies Research Center (ETRC), Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, IR Iran.
Gholamreza
G
Goudarzi
Modeling in Health Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Faculty of Health Kerman Univesity of Medical Sciences Kerman, IR Iran.
Abbas
A
Bahrampour
Air Pollution; Mortality; Traffic Accidents; Weather