Abstract
Abstract. Air pollution by fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3) has increased strongly with industrialization and urbanization. We estimate the premature mortality rates and the years of human life lost (YLL) caused by anthropogenic PM2.5 and O3 in 2005 for epidemiological regions defined by the World Health Organization (WHO). This is based upon high-resolution global model calculations that resolve urban and industrial regions in greater detail compared to previous work. Results indicate that 69% of the global population is exposed to an annual mean anthropogenic PM2.5 concentration of >10 μg m−3 (WHO guideline) and 33% to > 25 μg m−3 (EU directive). We applied an epidemiological health impact function and find that especially in large countries with extensive suburban and rural populations, air pollution-induced mortality rates have been underestimated given that previous studies largely focused on the urban environment. We calculate a global respiratory mortality of about 773 thousand/year (YLL ≈ 5.2 million/year), 186 thousand/year by lung cancer (YLL ≈ 1.7 million/year) and 2.0 million/year by cardiovascular disease (YLL ≈ 14.3 million/year). 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.
Highlights
2S0a0ik3a;wAaneetnable.,rg20e0t 9a;l.V, 2an01DD0o;anLtkaeelliaeSvaryelesdttaeanlm.d, 2Ds0e1n0t;enWear,n2g0a0n0d; pogenic PM2.5 concentration of > 10 μg m−3 (WHO guide- Mauzerall, 2006)
Where Mort is the change in annual mortality due to a given pollutant; y0 is the baseline mortality rate (BMR) for a given population; β is the concentration-response function (CRF) for the selected pollutants; X is the change in concentration of pollutant X; and population variable (Pop) is the total population with an age of ≥ 30 yr exposed to the particular pollutant
Part of the disagreement may be due to the fact that cardiopulmonary disease (CPD) calculations by Anenberg et al (2010) include a contribution by respiratory disease whereas we focus on cardiovascular disease (CVD)
Summary
2S0a0ik3a;wAaneetnable.,rg20e0t 9a;l.V, 2an01DD0o;anLtkaeelliaeSvaryelesdttaeanlm.d, 2Ds0e1n0t;enWear,n2g0a0n0d; pogenic PM2.5 concentration of > 10 μg m−3 (WHO guide- Mauzerall, 2006). To obtain an overview of the global health impacts by air pollution, it is important to consistently include all regions in a comparative air quality analysis. We follow the approach of West et al (2006) and Anenberg et al (2010), who applied an atmospheric chemistry-transport model to assess human health impacts, though at relatively course resolution (∼ 3◦ latitude and longitude), and estimated the global mortality due to anthropogenic air pollution for the year 2000. We compute the global burden of premature human mortality for 2005, using updated emission and population data and a higher resolution model (∼ 1.1◦ latitude and longitude), so that urban and industrial regions are better resolved. The methodology and the data sources are presented (Sect. 2), followed by the results and their explanation (Sect. 3), an uncertainty analysis (Sect. 4), comparison with previous work (Sect. 5) and the conclusions (Sect. 6)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
