Quantifying the health impacts of ambient air pollutants: recommendations of a WHO/Europe project
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
ObjectiveQuantitative estimates of air pollution health impacts have become an increasingly critical input to policy decisions. The WHO project “Health risks of air pollution in Europe—HRAPIE” was implemented to provide the evidence-based concentration–response functions for quantifying air pollution health impacts to support the 2013 revision of the air quality policy for the European Union (EU).MethodsA group of experts convened by WHO Regional Office for Europe reviewed the accumulated primary research evidence together with some commissioned reviews and recommended concentration–response functions for air pollutant–health outcome pairs for which there was sufficient evidence for a causal association.ResultsThe concentration–response functions link several indicators of mortality and morbidity with short- and long-term exposure to particulate matter, ozone and nitrogen dioxide. The project also provides guidance on the use of these functions and associated baseline health information in the cost–benefit analysis.ConclusionsThe project results provide the scientific basis for formulating policy actions to improve air quality and thereby reduce the burden of disease associated with air pollution in Europe.
Date Issued
2015-05-30
Date Acceptance
2015-05-11
Citation
International Journal of Public Health, 2015, 60, pp.619-627
ISSN
0303-8408
Publisher
Springer Verlag
Start Page
619
End Page
627
Journal / Book Title
International Journal of Public Health
Volume
60
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2015. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give
appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link
to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give
appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link
to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Identifier
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00038-015-0690-y
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Air pollutants
Health impact assessment
Cost-benefit analysis
Particulate matter
Ozone
Nitrogen dioxide
GLOBAL BURDEN
NITROGEN-DIOXIDE
POLLUTION
MORTALITY
DISEASE
EXPOSURE
OUTDOOR
Air Pollutants
Air Pollution
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Environmental Exposure
Europe
Health Status
Humans
Nitrogen Dioxide
Ozone
Particulate Matter
Research Design
Time Factors
World Health Organization
Humans
Nitrogen Dioxide
Ozone
Air Pollutants
Air Pollution
Environmental Exposure
Health Status
Research Design
Time Factors
Cost-Benefit Analysis
World Health Organization
Europe
Particulate Matter
1117 Public Health and Health Services
Public Health
Notes
10.1007/s00038-015-0690-y ObjectiveQuantitative estimates of air pollution health impacts have become an increasingly critical input to policy decisions. The WHO project “Health risks of air pollution in Europe—HRAPIE” was implemented to provide the evidence-based concentration–response functions for quantifying air pollution health impacts to support the 2013 revision of the air quality policy for the European Union (EU).MethodsA group of experts convened by WHO Regional Office for Europe reviewed the accumulated primary research evidence together with some commissioned reviews and recommended concentration–response functions for air pollutant–health outcome pairs for which there was sufficient evidence for a causal association.ResultsThe concentration–response functions link several indicators of mortality and morbidity with short- and long-term exposure to particulate matter, ozone and nitrogen dioxide. The project also provides guidance on the use of these functions and associated baseline health information in the cost–benefit analysis.ConclusionsThe project results provide the scientific basis for formulating policy actions to improve air quality and thereby reduce the burden of disease associated with air pollution in Europe.
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2015-05-30