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Objective: This research was carried out to investigate the respiratory effects of the stack emissions of the Yatağan coal-fired thermal power plant in the Mugla Province of Turkey.
Methods: The village that is located within 5 km around the power plant was investigated as the power plant village. Three similar villages those were located more than 30 km away from the thermal power plant were investigated as control villages. The study design was based on the comparison of the spirometric parameters of the individuals living in the two different village groups. The study was carried out on individuals who are age 15 and older and living in these villages.
Results: The spirometric pa¬rameters of the residents of the village around power plant were found to be significantly worsened as compared to the residents of the con¬trol villages (p<0.05). The never-smokers of the control villages were found to have the best spirometric results and also they had statistically significantly better spirometric findings than never-smokers of the village around the plant (p<0.05); whereas no statistically significant differences of the spirometric measurements of current smokers were observed between the two groups of villages (p>0.05).
Conclusion: The spirometric findings suggest that living within the vicinity of a coal fired thermal power plant could result in obstructive lung disease.