Original Articles PERCEPTION OF GENERAL POPULATION ABOUT SMOG IN LAHORE AND ITS IMPACT ON HUMAN HEALTH

Ahmad Niaz, Hamza Asghar

Abstract

Background

Smog has become a public environmental crisis in most areas of Pakistan. The purpose of this research was to study the effects of smog on the health of the population in Lahore.

Material and Methods

This descriptive cross sectional study was conducted from Nov. 2021 to Feb. 2022. A questionnaire survey was employed to collect data which included demographic, socioeconomic and health-related information. Descriptive statistics were used to study the impact of smog on groups of people who were exposed to smog and later contacted symptoms such as cough and eye irritation etc.

Results

The results showed that the perception of people about smog was significantly different from the actual circumstances, demonstrating that public view tends to diverge when challenged with a public disaster.

Conclusion

Most of the people in the study area knew about smog. They followed the precautions to prevent themselves from the harmful effects of smog (96% used face masks).