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Loss of life expectancy from air pollution compared to other risk factors: a worldwide perspective

AIMS: Long-term exposure of humans to air pollution enhances the risk of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. A novel Global Exposure Mortality Model (GEMM) has been derived from many cohort studies, providing much-improved coverage of the exposure to fine particulate matter (PM(2.5)). We applie...

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Autores principales: Lelieveld, Jos, Pozzer, Andrea, Pöschl, Ulrich, Fnais, Mohammed, Haines, Andy, Münzel, Thomas
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7449554/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32123898
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cvr/cvaa025
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author Lelieveld, Jos
Pozzer, Andrea
Pöschl, Ulrich
Fnais, Mohammed
Haines, Andy
Münzel, Thomas
author_facet Lelieveld, Jos
Pozzer, Andrea
Pöschl, Ulrich
Fnais, Mohammed
Haines, Andy
Münzel, Thomas
author_sort Lelieveld, Jos
collection PubMed
description AIMS: Long-term exposure of humans to air pollution enhances the risk of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. A novel Global Exposure Mortality Model (GEMM) has been derived from many cohort studies, providing much-improved coverage of the exposure to fine particulate matter (PM(2.5)). We applied the GEMM to assess excess mortality attributable to ambient air pollution on a global scale and compare to other risk factors. METHODS AND RESULTS: We used a data-informed atmospheric model to calculate worldwide exposure to PM(2.5) and ozone pollution, which was combined with the GEMM to estimate disease-specific excess mortality and loss of life expectancy (LLE) in 2015. Using this model, we investigated the effects of different pollution sources, distinguishing between natural (wildfires, aeolian dust) and anthropogenic emissions, including fossil fuel use. Global excess mortality from all ambient air pollution is estimated at 8.8 (7.11–10.41) million/year, with an LLE of 2.9 (2.3–3.5) years, being a factor of two higher than earlier estimates, and exceeding that of tobacco smoking. The global mean mortality rate of about 120 per 100 000 people/year is much exceeded in East Asia (196 per 100 000/year) and Europe (133 per 100 000/year). Without fossil fuel emissions, the global mean life expectancy would increase by 1.1 (0.9–1.2) years and 1.7 (1.4–2.0) years by removing all potentially controllable anthropogenic emissions. Because aeolian dust and wildfire emission control is impracticable, significant LLE is unavoidable. CONCLUSION: Ambient air pollution is one of the main global health risks, causing significant excess mortality and LLE, especially through cardiovascular diseases. It causes an LLE that rivals that of tobacco smoking. The global mean LLE from air pollution strongly exceeds that by violence (all forms together), i.e. by an order of magnitude (LLE being 2.9 and 0.3 years, respectively).
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spelling pubmed-74495542020-08-31 Loss of life expectancy from air pollution compared to other risk factors: a worldwide perspective Lelieveld, Jos Pozzer, Andrea Pöschl, Ulrich Fnais, Mohammed Haines, Andy Münzel, Thomas Cardiovasc Res Review Series from the Naples 2019 Joint Meeting of the ESC Working Groups on Myocardial Function and Cellular Biology of the Heart AIMS: Long-term exposure of humans to air pollution enhances the risk of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. A novel Global Exposure Mortality Model (GEMM) has been derived from many cohort studies, providing much-improved coverage of the exposure to fine particulate matter (PM(2.5)). We applied the GEMM to assess excess mortality attributable to ambient air pollution on a global scale and compare to other risk factors. METHODS AND RESULTS: We used a data-informed atmospheric model to calculate worldwide exposure to PM(2.5) and ozone pollution, which was combined with the GEMM to estimate disease-specific excess mortality and loss of life expectancy (LLE) in 2015. Using this model, we investigated the effects of different pollution sources, distinguishing between natural (wildfires, aeolian dust) and anthropogenic emissions, including fossil fuel use. Global excess mortality from all ambient air pollution is estimated at 8.8 (7.11–10.41) million/year, with an LLE of 2.9 (2.3–3.5) years, being a factor of two higher than earlier estimates, and exceeding that of tobacco smoking. The global mean mortality rate of about 120 per 100 000 people/year is much exceeded in East Asia (196 per 100 000/year) and Europe (133 per 100 000/year). Without fossil fuel emissions, the global mean life expectancy would increase by 1.1 (0.9–1.2) years and 1.7 (1.4–2.0) years by removing all potentially controllable anthropogenic emissions. Because aeolian dust and wildfire emission control is impracticable, significant LLE is unavoidable. CONCLUSION: Ambient air pollution is one of the main global health risks, causing significant excess mortality and LLE, especially through cardiovascular diseases. It causes an LLE that rivals that of tobacco smoking. The global mean LLE from air pollution strongly exceeds that by violence (all forms together), i.e. by an order of magnitude (LLE being 2.9 and 0.3 years, respectively). Oxford University Press 2020-09-01 2020-03-03 /pmc/articles/PMC7449554/ /pubmed/32123898 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cvr/cvaa025 Text en © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com
spellingShingle Review Series from the Naples 2019 Joint Meeting of the ESC Working Groups on Myocardial Function and Cellular Biology of the Heart
Lelieveld, Jos
Pozzer, Andrea
Pöschl, Ulrich
Fnais, Mohammed
Haines, Andy
Münzel, Thomas
Loss of life expectancy from air pollution compared to other risk factors: a worldwide perspective
title Loss of life expectancy from air pollution compared to other risk factors: a worldwide perspective
title_full Loss of life expectancy from air pollution compared to other risk factors: a worldwide perspective
title_fullStr Loss of life expectancy from air pollution compared to other risk factors: a worldwide perspective
title_full_unstemmed Loss of life expectancy from air pollution compared to other risk factors: a worldwide perspective
title_short Loss of life expectancy from air pollution compared to other risk factors: a worldwide perspective
title_sort loss of life expectancy from air pollution compared to other risk factors: a worldwide perspective
topic Review Series from the Naples 2019 Joint Meeting of the ESC Working Groups on Myocardial Function and Cellular Biology of the Heart
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7449554/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32123898
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cvr/cvaa025
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