Health Risk Assessment of Exposure to Air Pollutants Exceeding the New WHO Air Quality Guidelines (AQGs) in São Paulo, Brazil.

We applied the AirQ+ model to analyze the 2021 data within our study period (15 December 2020 to 17 June 2022) to quantitatively estimate the number of specific health outcomes from long- and short-term exposure to atmospheric pollutants that could be avoided by adopting the new World Health Organization Air Quality Guidelines (WHO AQGs) in São Paulo, Southeastern Brazil. Based on temporal variations, PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and O3 exceeded the 2021 WHO AQGs on up to 54.4% of the days during sampling, mainly in wintertime (June to September 2021). Reducing PM2.5 values in São Paulo, as recommended by the WHO, could prevent 113 and 24 deaths from lung cancer (LC) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) annually, respectively. Moreover, it could avoid 258 and 163 hospitalizations caused by respiratory (RD) and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) due to PM2.5 exposure. The results for excess deaths by RD and CVD due to O3 were 443 and 228, respectively, and 90 RD hospitalizations due to NO2. Therefore, AirQ+ is a useful tool that enables further elaboration and implementation of air pollution control strategies to reduce and prevent hospital admissions, mortality, and economic costs due to exposure to PM2.5, O3, and NO2 in São Paulo.

Health risk assessment for particulate matter: application of AirQ+ model in the northern Caribbean region of Colombia.

Air pollution is considered the world's most important environmental and public health risk. The annual exposure for particulate matter (PM) in the northern Caribbean region of Colombia between 2011 and 2019 was determined using PM records from 25 monitoring stations located within the area. The impact of exposure to particulate matter was assessed through the updated Global Burden of Disease health risk functions using the AirQ+ model for mortality attributable to acute lower respiratory disease (in children ≤ 4 years); mortality in adults aged > 18 years old attributable to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ischaemic heart disease, lung cancer, and stroke; and all-cause post-neonatal infant mortality. The proportions of the prevalence of bronchitis in children and the incidence of chronic bronchitis in adults attributable to PM exposure were also estimated for the population at risk. Weather Research and Forecasting-California PUFF (WRF-CALPUFF) modeling systems were used to estimate the spatiotemporal trends and calculate mortality relative risk due to prolonged PM2.5 exposure. Proportions of mortality attributable to long-term exposure to PM2.5 were estimated to be around 11.6% of ALRI deaths in children ≤ 4 years of age, 16.1% for COPD, and 26.6% for IHD in adults. For LC and stroke, annual proportions attributable to PM exposure were estimated to be 9.1% and 18.9%, respectively. An estimated 738 deaths per year are directly attributed to particulate matter pollution. The highest number of deaths per year is recorded in the adult population over 18 years old with a mean of 401 events. The mean risk in terms of the prevalence of bronchitis attributable to air pollution in children was determined to be 109 per 100,000 inhabitants per year. The maximum RR values for mortality (up 1.95%) from long-term PM2.5 exposure were predicted to correspond to regions downwind to the industrial zone. Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11869-023-01304-5.