The Relationship between Particulate Air Pollution and Mortality: The Case of Tomsk, Russia

— The impact of suspended particles in the urban air on the health of different groups of the population of Tomsk, Russia, is studied. It is shown that women are generally most susceptible to the adverse effects of aerosol air pollution and extreme (high summer and low winter) air temperatures. Women at age of 65–74 are the most vulnerable to the environment hazards. The age-and-sex matched analysis of mortality allows us to determined groups of population (age, causes of death) the most susceptible to high aerosol concentrations and extreme air temperatures: women aged 65–74, cancer of the digestive system, breast cancer, and acute myocardial infarction; women aged 34–50, undetermined causes; women aged 75–87, breast-pang; men aged 53–65, other forms of coronary artery disease; men 78+, male reproductive organ cancer. The general mortality of the population is shown to be mainly due factors not studied in this work. However, the risk of the negative impact of air pollution is significant for the selected groups of population in the region under study.