Analysis of the relationship between tuberculosis-related mortality and nitrous oxide emission levels in the world with the environmental Kuznets curve method

Abstract

Background/aim: It was aimed to analyze the relationship between tuberculosis-related mortality and nitrous oxide emission levels in the world with the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) Method.

Materials and methods: WHO ICD-10 mortality list data and the World Bank Country Data (WBCD) were used between 1997 and 2017 for 12 countries. Cubic regression analysis was used for EKC Analysis.

Results: The difference between male and female deaths between 1996 and 1998 has increased sharply since 1999. Male deaths consistently occurred significantly more than female deaths. There was a significant and negative correlation between Nitrous oxide emissions (% change from 1990) and tuberculosis-related deaths, whereas there were significant and positive correlations between Nitrous oxide emissions in the energy sector (% of total) and tuberculosis-related deaths (p < 0.01). EKC analysis results showed that there is a U shaped between tuberculosis-related mortality and nitrous oxide emission levels in the world.

Conclusion: Research results show that the relationship between nitrous oxide change and mortality is negative in the short term and positive in the long term. Therefore, although nitrous oxide gases cause respiratory diseases and mortality, it may be possible to transform a harmful environmental factor into a positive by developing devices or methods that will convert these gases into free radicals.