The Global Burden of Anthropogenic Ozone and Particulate Matter Air Pollution on Premature Human Mortality

The Global Burden of Anthropogenic Ozone and Particulate Matter Air Pollution on Premature Human Mortality Public Deposited

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Creator

Casper, Susan
- Affiliation: Gillings School of Global Public Health, Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering

Abstract

Tropospheric ozone and fine particulate matter (PM) have increased significantly since preindustrial times and have been demonstrated to cause negative health impacts, including cardiovascular and respiratory mortality. Previous estimates of the global burden of outdoor PM on premature human mortality have been based on air quality measurements. Here, we use results from a global atmospheric chemistry and transport model simulation of ozone and PM concentrations in the preindustrial (1860) and the present (2000) to drive human mortality estimates. This method includes rural areas where measurements are often unavailable and avoids making assumptions for background air pollution. Depending on the concentration threshold applied, anthropogenic ozone is associated with about 282,000 to 362,000 global premature cardiopulmonary mortalities, with uncertainty ranging from 135,000 to 551,000 mortalities. Anthropogenic PM is associated with about 1.3 to 2.4 million global premature cardiopulmonary and lung cancer mortalities, with uncertainty ranging from 465,000 to 3.8 million mortalities.

Date of publication