ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Concentration Level and Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in PM2.5 in Ambient Air of Makkah City, Saudi Arabia
,
 
,
 
,
 
 
 
 
More details
Hide details
1
Department of Environmental Health, Faculty of Public Health and Health Informatics, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
 
2
Center of Excellence in Environmental Studies (CEES), King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
 
3
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Applied Science, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
 
 
Submission date: 2021-11-29
 
 
Final revision date: 2022-03-08
 
 
Acceptance date: 2022-03-21
 
 
Online publication date: 2022-06-20
 
 
Publication date: 2022-09-01
 
 
Corresponding author
Mohammed Abdulaziz   

Department of Environmental Health, Faculty of Public Health and Health Informatics, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia
 
 
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2022;31(5):3991-4002
 
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Exposure to air pollution in general and Particulate Matter (PM) and its constituents, in particular, can be extremely harmful to human health. Given the importance of PM and its constituents concerning human health, this study aimed to evaluate the levels of PM2.5 and some HMs in the atmosphere of Makkah City, Saudi Arabia, and assess the health risks associated with exposure to HMs. The 24-h mean concentration of PM2.5 in Makkah city was 38.0±13.5 μg/m3 which exceeded the WHO air quality guidelines and national ambient air quality standard of Saudi Arabia. The average concentrations of HMs were Mn (54.3±13.3 ng/m3)>Pb (40.3±9.2 ng/m3)>As (27.8±4.1 ng/m3)>Ni (20.5±12.9 ng/m3)> Cr (18.2±6.2 ng/m3)>Cd (13.0±3.1 ng/m3). The non-carcinogenic risks (non-CRs) and carcinogenic risks (CRs) associated with exposure to measured HMs were analyzed using hazard quotient (HQ) and incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR), respectively. Arsenic was found to be the major contributor to health risk and oral ingestion was found to be the most detrimental pathway of exposure to HMs. For future research, it is recommended to evaluate the HMs and their health risks in various environmental media in different Saudi cities.
eISSN:2083-5906
ISSN:1230-1485
Journals System - logo
Scroll to top