Burden of Disease of Seoul Citizens Attributable to Air Pollutants From Municipal Solid Waste Incinerators: Source-specific Approach for Environmental Burden of Disease

Abstract

O-31B5-1 Background/Aims: There have been no studies quantifying the integrated health burden, both mortality and morbidity, of air pollutants on the population in the vicinity of the incinerators. The aims of this study were to estimate the attributable burden of disease caused by incinerators in Seoul, Korea and to present a source-specific exposure-based approach for the estimation of environmental burden of disease. Methods: We integrated air dispersion modeling, Geographic Information Systems, the population distribution of exposure, and the exposure-response relationship. We then estimated the PAFs caused by additional concentrations of 4 air pollutants (PM10, NO2, SO2, and CO) emitted from 4 municipal solid waste incinerators in Seoul in 2007. We, finally, estimated the attributable burden of disease, using the disability-adjusted life years method developed by the Global Burden of Disease Group of World Health Organization and the estimated PAFs. Results: PAF for NO2 to all-cause mortality was assessed at about 0.02% (95% CI: 0.003%–0.036%), which was the highest among 4 air pollutants included. The PAFs for respiratory and cardiovascular disease were 0.12% (95% CI: 0.01%–0.16%) and 0.10% (95% CI: 0.04%–0.16%), respectively. The sum of the attributable burden of disease for 4 pollutants was about 297 person-years (95% CI: 121–472 person-years) when the incinerators observed to the emission standards. The attributable burden of respiratory disease and cardiovascular disease were about 0.2% and 0.1% of the total burden of respiratory disease and cardiovascular disease for the year 2007, respectively. Conclusion: Although the air emissions from one risk factor, the incinerator, are small, the burden of disease can be significant to the public health when population exposures are considered. This source-specific and population exposure-based burden of disease could contribute to prioritizing emission reduction policies with regard to their effects on human health impact.