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Saharan sand and dust storms and neonatal mortality: Evidence from Burkina Faso
Karimi, Seyed M Pouran, Hamid Majbouri, Mahdi Moradi-Lakeh, Maziar Hakimian, Hassan Basart, Sara
Karimi, Seyed M
Pouran, Hamid
Majbouri, Mahdi
Moradi-Lakeh, Maziar
Hakimian, Hassan
Basart, Sara
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2020-04-29
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Abstract
West African populations are exposed to the longest and harshest dust storms on the planet, the Saharan sand and dust storms (SDS). Nonetheless, little is known about the effects of the severe storms on early-life health in West Africa. This study investigated the association of the risk of neonatal mortality, an indicator of the population's early-life health, with potential prenatal and neonatal exposure to the Saharan SDS. Data on 30,552 under-five children from Burkina Faso's 1993, 2003, and 2010 demographic and health surveys were matched to the particulate matters (PM) and terrestrial air temperature and precipitation forecasts. Exposure to dust events was measured by the number of days with average PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations above a series of threshold. Intensity-dependent patterns of associations between neonatal mortality and both prenatal and birth month exposure to dust events were identified. There was no association if average daily PM10 and PM2.5 levels were <60 and 30 μg/m3, respectively. However, strong associations, which increase almost linearly with the intensity of exposure, were identified when daily PM10 and PM2.5 levels ranged between 70 and 150 and 40–70 μg/m3, respectively. At the higher PM levels, the association for the gestation period decreased, but that for the birth month remained mostly unresponsive to changes in the PM levels. Larger associations were identified when siblings were compared.
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Karimi, S.M., Pouran, H., Majbouri, M., Moradi-Lakeh, M., Hakimian, H. and Basart, S. (2020) Saharan sand and dust storms and neonatal mortality: Evidence from Burkina Faso, Science of The Total Environment, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139053
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Journal article
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en
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This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Elsevier in Science of the Total Environment on 29/04/2020, available online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139053
The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.
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0048-9697