Economic cost of air-pollution-related respiratory diseases on society : comparison between Chekka and Batroun

Abstract

The objective of this study is to assess the economic impacts of air pollution on respiratory diseases and see the effects of air pollutants on residency location. Surveys were implemented in two regions in North Lebanon: Chekka and Batroun. Chekka is an industrial town containing two cement factories and one sugar factory, Batroun is a touristic town and was taken as a control. The surveys targeted the local residents of the two regions, medical doctors, and hospitals close to the two towns with 500 individuals surveyed in each. The economic costs of the three respiratory diseases compulsive obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, and bronchitis were evaluated using the cost of illness (COI) and the human capital approach (or disability adjusted life years DALY). The COI measures the costs of the diseases on the population studied, and the DALY measures the lives lost due to the diseases. COPD had the highest values in both Chekka and Batroun, with average costs of {dollar}230/year in Chekka and {dollar}165/year in Batroun for each person. Athma costs for each person were {dollar}96/year in Chekka and {dollar}68/year in Batroun. Bronchitis costs were {dollar}30/year and {dollar}21/year for each resident in Chekka and Batroun, respectively. A statistical test (twotail T- test) showed that there was no statistical significance, and hence no evidence for the effects of residency location (whether Chekka or Batroun) on the occurrence of any of the three diseases.