Global Public Health and the Common Good, Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Ave, Chestnut Hill, MA, US.
Ann Glob Health. 2022 Jul 1;88(1):48. doi: 10.5334/aogh.3702. eCollection 2022.
Ambient air pollution is a serious problem in many Eastern European countries. Elevated levels of fine airborne particulate matter (PM) pollution in the former Soviet republics relative to the rest of Europe contribute to elevated rates of disease, especially cardiovascular disease (CVD).
Information on the underlying social and political causes of air pollution in Eastern Europe is important for pollution control and disease prevention.
To quantify relationships between pollution, and air-pollution-related CVD, and political corruption throughout Europe and particularly in the former Soviet republics, we relied on the State of Global Air report for information on air pollution levels; on the 2019 Global Burden of Disease study (GBD) for estimates of the burden of air-pollution-related CVD; and on Transparency International (TI) for rankings of governmental corruption.
Air-pollution-related CVD was responsible for an estimated 178,000 (UI: 112,000-251,000) premature deaths and for the loss of 4,010,000 (UI: 2,518,000--5,611,000) productive years of life (DALYs) in 2019 in the former Soviet republics. A significant positive correlation (R = 0.72, p 1.7e-8) was found across Europe between air-pollution-related CVD mortality rates and national corruption rankings.
We conclude that lack of governmental transparency, inadequate air pollution monitoring, and opposition by vested interests have hindered air pollution control and perpetuated high rates of pollution-related morbidity and mortality in the former Soviet republics. Ending corruption and modernizing industrial production will be key to air pollution and related diseases.
在许多东欧国家，大气污染是一个严重的问题。在前苏联共和国，细颗粒物（PM）污染水平高于欧洲其他地区，导致疾病发病率上升，尤其是心血管疾病（CVD）。
了解东欧空气污染背后的社会和政治原因对于污染控制和疾病预防至关重要。
为了量化欧洲，特别是前苏联共和国的污染、与空气污染相关的 CVD 与政治腐败之间的关系，我们依赖 State of Global Air 报告获取有关空气污染水平的信息；利用 2019 年全球疾病负担研究（GBD）估算与空气污染相关的 CVD 的负担；利用透明国际（TI）的排名评估政府腐败程度。
2019 年，与空气污染相关的 CVD 导致前苏联共和国约 17.8 万人（UI：11.2-25.1 万人）过早死亡，丧失了 401 万人（UI：251.8-561.1 万人）的生产性生命年（DALY）。在整个欧洲，与空气污染相关的 CVD 死亡率与国家腐败排名之间存在显著的正相关关系（R = 0.72，p 1.7e-8）。
我们的结论是，缺乏政府透明度、空气污染监测不足以及既得利益集团的反对，阻碍了空气污染控制，使前苏联共和国的污染相关发病率和死亡率居高不下。结束腐败和实现工业现代化将是控制空气污染和相关疾病的关键。
