Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, United States.
Centre Scientifique de Monaco, Monaco, Monaco.
Front Public Health. 2023 Dec 1;11:1286755. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1286755. eCollection 2023.
Air pollution is the greatest environmental threat to human health in the world today and is responsible for an estimated 7-9 million deaths annually. One of the most damaging air pollutants is PM pollution, fine airborne particulate matter under 2.5 microns in diameter. Exposure to PM pollution can cause premature death, heart disease, lung cancer, stroke, diabetes, asthma, low birthweight, and IQ loss. To avoid these adverse health effects, the WHO recommends that PM levels not exceed 5 μg/m.
This study estimates the negative health impacts of PM pollution in Texas in 2016. Local exposure estimates were calculated at the census tract level using the EPA's BenMAP-CE software. In BenMAP, a variety of exposure-response functions combine air pollution exposure data with population data and county-level disease and death data to estimate the number of health effects attributable to PM pollution for each census tract. The health effects investigated were mortality, low birthweight, stroke, new onset asthma, new onset Alzheimer's, and non-fatal lung cancer.
This study found that approximately 26.7 million (98.9%) of the 27.0 million people living in Texas in 2016 resided in areas where PM concentrations were above the WHO recommendation of 5 μg/m, and that 2.6 million people (9.8%) lived in areas where the average PM concentration exceeded 10 μg/m. This study estimates that there were 8,405 (confidence interval [CI], 5,674-11,033) premature deaths due to PM pollution in Texas in 2016, comprising 4.3% of all deaths. Statewide increases in air-pollution-related morbidity and mortality were seen for stroke (2,209 - CI: [576, 3,776]), low birthweight (2,841 - CI: [1,696, 3,925]), non-fatal lung cancers (636 - CI: [219, 980]), new onset Alzheimer's disease (24,575 - CI: [20,800, 27,540]), and new onset asthma (7,823 - CI: [7,557, 8,079]).
This study found that air pollution poses significant risks to the health of Texans, despite the fact that pollution levels across most of the state comply with the EPA standard for PM pollution of 12 μg/m. Improving air quality in Texas could save thousands of lives from disease, disability, and premature death.
空气污染是当今世界对人类健康的最大环境威胁，每年造成约 700 万至 900 万人死亡。最具破坏性的空气污染物之一是 PM 污染，即直径小于 2.5 微米的细悬浮颗粒物。暴露于 PM 污染会导致过早死亡、心脏病、肺癌、中风、糖尿病、哮喘、低出生体重和智商下降。为了避免这些不良健康影响，世界卫生组织建议 PM 水平不应超过 5μg/m。
本研究估计了 2016 年德克萨斯州 PM 污染对健康的负面影响。使用 EPA 的 BenMAP-CE 软件在普查区一级计算当地暴露估计值。在 BenMAP 中，各种暴露反应函数将空气污染暴露数据与人口数据以及县一级的疾病和死亡数据相结合，以估计每个普查区归因于 PM 污染的健康影响数量。研究中调查的健康影响包括死亡率、低出生体重、中风、新发哮喘、新发老年痴呆症和非致命性肺癌。
本研究发现，2016 年居住在德克萨斯州的 2700 万人口中，约有 2670 万人（98.9%）生活在 PM 浓度超过世界卫生组织建议的 5μg/m 的地区，有 260 万人（9.8%）生活在 PM 浓度超过 10μg/m 的地区。本研究估计，2016 年德克萨斯州因 PM 污染导致的过早死亡人数为 8405 人（置信区间 [CI]，5674-11033），占所有死亡人数的 4.3%。全州范围内与空气污染相关的发病率和死亡率增加，包括中风（2209 - CI：[576，3776]）、低出生体重（2841 - CI：[1696，3925]）、非致命性肺癌（636 - CI：[219，980]）、新发老年痴呆症（24575 - CI：[20，800，27540]）和新发哮喘（7823 - CI：[7557，8079]）。
尽管该州大部分地区的 PM 污染符合 EPA 规定的 12μg/m 标准，但本研究发现，空气污染对德克萨斯州人的健康构成了重大威胁。改善德克萨斯州的空气质量可以避免数千人因疾病、残疾和过早死亡而丧生。
