Health Benefits of a Reduction in Ambient Benzene Levels in Mexico City

Abstract

Background: Air pollution has a negative impact on social and economic development of the countries as it represents a major threat to public health. There is scientific evidence documenting a variety of adverse health outcomes due to exposure to toxic air contaminants. Objective: To assess the health impact of air pollution with benzene in residents of Mexico City. Materials and methods: Following the standard method established by World Health Organization and considering 2005 as the base year, we estimated the health benefits of long-term exposure in 2008 to 2015 period, in terms of the number of avoidable deaths of leukemia (ICD-10: C91- C95), assessing three different hypothetical scenarios of decrease of benzene concentrations. Information from a local air monitoring study was used and exposure assessment was made using Geographical Information Systems and ArcGIS® 10.1 software. Concentration-response functions documented in robust epidemiological studies were selected. Results: An annual average benzene concentration in the study area was estimated to 1.82 ppb. The population covered in this health impact assessment includes nearly 6.5 million inhabitants. Considering two latency periods of leukemia of 5 and 10 years, in the scenario of WHO, we estimated a total of 31 avoidable deaths for the year 2010, while for year 2015 53 were estimated. Sensitivity analysis showed a possible underestimation of the results. Conclusions: Residents of Mexico City are exposed to benzene concentrations above the guideline value of World Health Organization. The results of this study show that the reduction of benzene air pollution in Mexico City would cause significant health benefits. This research is a useful tool, which could assist in the development of policies for managing toxic air pollutants in Mexico.