Regional impact assessment of air quality improvement: The air quality lifecourse assessment tool (AQ-LAT) for the West Midlands combined authority (WMCA) area.

Autor: Hall J; Health Economics Unit, Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston Park Road, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK., Zhong J; School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston Park Road, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK., Jowett S; Health Economics Unit, Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston Park Road, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK., Mazzeo A; School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston Park Road, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK; Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston Park Road, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK; Lancaster Environment Centre (LEC), Lancaster University, Bailrigg Campus, Lancaster LA1 4YW, UK., Thomas GN; Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston Park Road, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK., Bryson JR; Department of Strategy and International Business, Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK., Dewar S; Coventry City Council, Earl Street, Coventry, CV1 5RR, UK., Inglis N; Walsall Council, Civic Centre, Darwall Street, Walsall, WS1 1TP, UK., Wolstencroft M; Birmingham City Council, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B1 1BB, UK., Muller C; School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston Park Road, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK., Bloss WJ; School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston Park Road, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK., Harrison RM; School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston Park Road, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK; Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Meteorology, Environment and Arid Land Agriculture, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia., Bartington SE; Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston Park Road, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK. Electronic address: s.bartington@bham.ac.uk.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987) [Environ Pollut] 2024 Sep 01; Vol. 356, pp. 123871. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 May 09.
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2024.123871
Abstrakt: Poor air quality is the largest environmental health risk in England. In the West Midlands, UK, ∼2.9 million people are affected by air pollution with an average loss in life expectancy of up to 6 months. The 2021 Environment Act established a legal framework for local authorities in England to develop regional air quality plans, generating a policy need for predictive environmental impact assessment tools. In this context, we developed a novel Air Quality Lifecourse Assessment Tool (AQ-LAT) to estimate electoral ward-level impacts of PM 2.5 and NO 2 exposure on outcomes of interest to local authorities, namely morbidity (asthma, coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, lung cancer), mortality, and associated healthcare costs. We apply the Tool to assess the health economic burden of air pollutant exposure and estimate benefits that would be generated by meeting WHO 2021 Global Air Quality Guidelines (AQGs) (annual average concentrations) for NO 2 (10 μg/m 3 ) and PM 2.5 (5 μg/m 3 ) in the West Midlands Combined Authority Area. All West Midlands residents live in areas which exceed WHO AQGs, with 2070 deaths, 2070 asthma diagnoses, 770 CHD diagnoses, 170 lung cancers and 650 strokes attributable to air pollution exposure annually. Reducing PM 2.5 and NO 2 concentrations to WHO AQGs would save 10,700 lives reducing regional mortality by 1.8%, gaining 92,000 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), and preventing 20,500 asthma, 7400 CHD, 1400 lung cancer, and 5700 stroke diagnoses, with economic benefits of £3.2 billion over 20 years. Significantly, we estimate 30% of QALY gains relate to reduced disease burden. The AQ-LAT has major potential to be replicated across local authorities in England and applied to inform regional investment decisions.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest JH, JZ, SJ, AM, GNT, JRB, WB, SB reports financial support was provided by Natural Environment Research Council. Dr Suzanne Bartington also declares a relationship with the Committee on Medical Effects of Air Pollution that includes: consulting or advisory and non-financial support. Professor Roy Harrison reports a relationship with Committee on Medical Effects of Air Pollution that includes: consulting or advisory and non-financial support. Member of AQEG, Prof. Roy Harrison. Occasional expert witness in litigation and prosecutions, Prof. Roy Harrison. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
Externí odkaz: