Roger Ho|Melvyn W. Zhang|Cyrus S.H. Ho|Fang Pan|Yanxia Lu|Vijay K. Sharma
Impact of 2013 south Asian haze crisis: study of physical and psychological symptoms and perceived dangerousness of pollution level
Shandong University|Shandong University
abstract background widespread forest fires indonesia june 2013 led widespread haze neighbouring countries first study medical literature reporting acute physical psychological symptoms general population haze crisis evaluated factors associated psychological stress haze exposure methods study conducted june 21 june 26 2013 participants recruited online recruitment post snowball sampling techniques participants required complete online survey composed demographics questionnaire physical symptom checklist perceived dangerous pollutant standard index psi value views n95 mask impact event scalerevised iesr results total 298 participants returned completed study questionnaire respondents reported mean number 403 physical symptoms sd 26 five common physical symptoms include mouth throat discomfort 688 nose discomfort 641 eye discomfort 607 headache 503 breathing difficulty 403 total iesr score 1847 sd 1169 indicated study population experienced mild psychological stress extent acute stress reaction syndrome perceived dangerous psi level number physical symptoms significantly associated mean intrusion score mean hyperarousal score total mean iesr score total iesr score p lt 005 conclusions findings suggest haze crisis associated acute physical symptoms mild psychological stress number physical symptoms perceived dangerous psi values important factors associated psychological stress