Title: Does ambient air Particulate Matter have a direct impact on Cardiovascular Disease incidence in the Philippines?

Authors: Q.T. Nguyen, R.N.G. Naguib, N. Wickramasinghe, M.H. Shaker

Addresses: Biomedical Computing and Engineering Technologies (BIOCORE) Applied Research Group, Health Design and Technology Institute, Coventry University, Priory Street, Coventry, CV1 5FB, UK. ' Biomedical Computing and Engineering Technologies (BIOCORE) Applied Research Group, Health Design and Technology Institute, Coventry University, Priory Street, Coventry, CV1 5FB, UK. ' School of Business IT and Logistics, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476, Melbourne VIC 3001, Australia. ' Ecology and Environment Inc., 368 Pleasant View Drive, Lancaster, NY 14086, USA

Abstract: Developed countries, where the standards of the environment in ambient and indoor areas are in line with the World Health Organization Air Quality Standards, have widely acknowledged and are fully aware of the importance of this issue. However, many developing countries, such as the Philippines, suffer from high concentrations of ambient Particulate Matter and from high rates of mortality from Cardiovascular Disease (CVD). Therefore, the aim of this paper is to understand the possible relationships between airborne pollutants and CVD in the Philippines and to raise the awareness of the government, citizens and specialists to address this issue.

Keywords: ambient air quality; indoor air quality; environmental health; myocardial infarction; ischaemic heart disease; hypertensive heart disease; strokes; developing countries; Philippines; cardiovascular disease; air pollution; airborne pollutants; particulate matter.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBET.2011.038472

International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, 2011 Vol.5 No.1, pp.44 - 60

Published online: 21 Jan 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article