Study of the Lethality Rate of Respiratory Diseases in Surrounding Cities Within 50 km of Cement Industries

Human activities promote significant environmental changes. Industrial plants emit pollutants of different types in the atmosphere, placing at risk the health of the population in the vicinities of manufacturing plants. The knowledge of the impact of industrial manufacturing processes of diverse products on public health is of major interest, as the first step for decision-making toward a cleaner and healthier world. In this work, information on the lethality rate of respiratory system diseases (RSD) is collected from the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) databases. This work makes a compilation of data for cities situated at distances up to 50 km of cement manufacturing plants and intends to evaluate the effect on public health of particulate pollutants produced by this type of industrial activity. Data are statistically analyzed and compared to the overall population of the southeastern region, as well as with the overall Brazilian population, considered here as background data. The results indicated that the surrounding cities within 50 km of the cement industries in the south-eastern region of Brazil have mean values of respiratory disease lethality higher than the values found in the southeastern region of the country, to which the sampled cities belong, and higher than the national average.