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Apheis: Health Impact Assessment of Long-term Exposure to PM2.5 in 23 European Cities

  • Environmental epidemiology
  • Published:
European Journal of Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Introduction

Apheis aims to provide European decision makers, environmental-health professionals and the general public with up-to-date and easy-to-use information on air pollution (AP) and public health (PH). In the Apheis-3 phase we quantified the PH impact of long-term exposure to PM2.5 (particulate matter < 2.5 μm) in terms of attributable number of deaths and the potential gain in life expectancy in 23 European cities.

Methods

We followed the World Health Organization (WHO) methodology for Health Impact Assessment (HIA) and the Apheis guidelines for data collection and analysis. We used the programme created by PSAS-9 for attributable-cases calculations and the WHO software AirQ to estimate the potential gain in life expectancy. For most cities, PM2.5 levels were calculated from PM10 measurements using a local or European conversion factor.

Results

The HIA estimated that 16,926 premature deaths from all causes, including 11,612 cardiopulmonary deaths and 1901 lung-cancer deaths, could be prevented annually if long-term exposure to PM2.5 levels were reduced to 15 μg/m3 in each city. Equivalently, this reduction would increase life expectancy at age 30 by a range between one month and more than two years in the Apheis cities.

Conclusions

In addition to the number of attributable cases, our HIA has estimated the potential gain in life expectancy for long-term exposure to fine particles, contributing to a better quantification of the impact of AP on PH in Europe.

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Acknowledgements

The huge amount of work behind the Apheis programme is the fruit of the generous and constructive input from all the members of the Apheis network. We wish to give our special thanks and appreciation to all of them. The Apheis programme was supported by the European Commission DG SANCO programme of Community action on pollution-related diseases (contract Nos. SI2.131174 [99CVF2-604];␣SI2.297300 [2000CVG2-607]; SI2.326507 [2001CVG2-602] and the participating institutions in 12 European countries. Elena Boldo was supported by a grant from the Regional Ministry of Education (Order 7580/2003) and Regional Ministry of Health (Order 566/2001), Madrid Regional Government, Spain.

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Correspondence to Elena Boldo.

Additional information

Participants in the Apheis-3 network:

Coordinators: Sylvia Medina (Saint Maurice, France), Antoni Plasència (Barcelona, Spain).

Centres: France: Sylvie Cassadou (Toulouse), Pascal Fabre, Hélène Prouvost, Christophe Declercq (Lille), Daniel Eilstein (Strasbourg), Laurent Filleul (Bordeaux), Laurence Pascal (Marseille), Jean François Jusot (Lyon), Myriam D’Elf (Rouen, Le Havre), Agnès Lefranc, Benoit Chardon (Paris), Alain Le Tertre (Saint-Maurice).Greece: Antonis Analitis, Giota Touloumi, Klea Katsouyanni (Athens). Hungary: Anna Paldy, Eszter Erdei, Janos Bobvos (Budapest). Ireland: Pat Goodman, Luke Clancy (Dublin). Israël: Sarah Hellmann, Ayana Goren (Tel Aviv). Italy: Ursula Kirchmayer, Paola Michelozzi (Rome).Poland: Krystyna Szafraniec (Cracow). Republic of Slovenia: Tina Gale, Peter Otorepec, Mateij Gregoric (Ljubljana/Celje).Romania: Emilia Maria Niciu (Bucharest). Spain: Koldo Cambra, Eva Alonso, Francisco Cirarda, Teresa Martínez (Bilbao). Lucía Artazcoz, Antoni Plasència (Barcelona). Mercedes Martínez, Belén Zorrilla, Laura López, Ana Gandarillas, Elena Boldo, Laura Crespo (Madrid). Inmaculada Aguilera, Antonio Daponte (Seville). Ferrán Ballester, Carmen Iñíguez, José Luis Bosch (Valencia).Sweden: Bertil Forsberg, Bo Segerstedt, Lars Modig (Stockholm/Gothenburg). United Kingdom: Richard Atkinson, Ross Anderson (London).

Steering Committee: Ross Anderson (London, UK). Emile de Saeger, Nikolaos Stilianakis (Ispra, Italy). Klea Katsouyanni (Athens, Greece). Michal Krzyzanowski (Bonn, Germany). Hans-Guido Mücke (Berlin, Germany). Joel Schwartz (Boston, USA).

Notes

Notes

  1. 1.

    www.apheis.net

  2. 2.

    http://www.invs.sante.fr/psas9

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Boldo, E., Medina, S., Le Tertre, A. et al. Apheis: Health Impact Assessment of Long-term Exposure to PM2.5 in 23 European Cities. Eur J Epidemiol 21, 449–458 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-006-9014-0

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