Model calculated global, regional and megacity premature mortality due to air pollution

Abstract

Air pollution by fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) and ozone (O₃) has increased strongly with industrialization and urbanization. We estimated the premature mortality rates and the years of human life lost (YLL) caused by anthropogenic PM_2.5 and O₃ in 2005 for epidemiological regions defined by the World Health Organization. We carried out high-resolution global model calculations to resolve urban and industrial regions in greater detail compared to previous work. We applied a health impact function to estimate premature mortality for people of 30 yr and older, using parameters derived from epidemiological cohort studies. Our results suggest that especially in large countries with extensive suburban and rural populations, air pollution-induced mortality rates have previously been underestimated. We calculate a global respiratory mortality of about 773 thousand yr^−1 (YLL ≈ 5.2 million yr^−1), 186 thousand yr^−1 by lung cancer (YLL ≈ 1.7 million yr^−1) and 2.0 million yr^−1 by cardiovascular disease (YLL ≈ 14.3 million yr^−1). The global mean per capita mortality caused by air pollution is about 0.1 % yr^−1. The highest premature mortality rates are found in the Southeast Asia and Western Pacific regions (about 25% and 46% of the global rate, respectively) where more than a dozen of the most highly polluted megacities are located

Premature mortality in India due to PM2.5 and ozone exposure

“…The Global Burden of Disease estimates ranks pollution as the fifth largest killer in India [ World Health Organization ( WHO ), ]. Estimates of the respiratory mortality show India to rank second among the countries globally affected by PM 2.5 [ Silva et al ., ] and O 3 pollution [ Lelieveld et al ., ]. It is anticipated that recent upward trends in transportation, industrial and energy sectors, urbanizations, population growth in India along with climate change will raise the levels of O 3 and PM 2.5 in the future, which could worsen the vulnerability of a growing population.…”

Heavy metals bound to fine particulate matter from northern China induce season-dependent health risks: A study based on myocardial toxicity

“…The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that ambient air pollution was responsible for 3,700,000 deaths in 2012, including 16% of the lung cancer deaths, 11% of the chronic obstructive pulmonary diseaserelated deaths, 29% of the heart disease and stroke deaths, and approximately 13% of the deaths that were due to respiratory infections (Lee et al, 2014). Lelieveld et al (2013) calculated a global mortality of approximately 773,000/year due to respiratory disease, 186,000/year due to lung cancer and 2,000,000/year due to cardiovascular disease (CVD) resulting from exposure to anthropogenic PM 2.5 (Lelieveld et al, 2013). Obviously, CVD is a key contributor to mortality.…”

Constraining Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds Over the Indian Subcontinent Using Space‐Based Formaldehyde Measurements

“…India is the world's second most populous country and is undergoing rapid industrialization, urbanization and economic development (United Nations, ). It is also an air pollution mortality hot spot, with >500,000 premature deaths each year (GBDMWG, ; Ghude et al, ; Lelieveld et al, , ). However, India is highly understudied in terms of atmospheric composition: In‐situ measurements are too sparse to reliably assess the importance of different emission sources for air quality.…”