Simulation study of air quality health index in 5 cities in China: 2013-2015 / 中华流行病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To construct the air quality health index (AQHI) by inclusion of air pollutants PM2.5 and O3 in Guangzhou,Shanghai,Xi'an,Beijing,Shenyang,and explore scientificity and feasibility of its application in China.Methods The daily average concentrations of PM2.5 and O3 in air,and daily average mortality from 2013 to 2015 in the 5 cities in China,the exposure-response coefficients of PM2.5 and O3 and total mortality from Meta studies in China were used to construct local AQHI.The health risk levels of air pollution in the 5 cities were calculated and compared with the characteristics of single pollutant concentrationof PM2.5 or O3.Results In the 5 cities,the average concentration of PM2.5 was highest in Beijing (82 μg/m3) and lowest in Guangzhou (46 μg/m3).And the average concentration of O3 was highest in Shanghai (72 μg/m3) and lowest in Xi'an (45 μg/m3).In all the cities,the average concentration of PM2.5 was highest in winter and lowest in summer.In summer,the average concentration of O3 was lowest.But the health risk level of AQHI showed that the 5 cities had higher frequency of low or medium risk averagely.And Beijing had the highest frequency of high risk in summer (5.69％).Xi'an had the highest frequency of extremely high risk in winter (1.63％).Conclusions In this study,AQHI could be constructed by using air PM2.5 and O3 concentration data which can be obtained in many areas in China.The application of this index is scientific and feasible in China.