A study spanning 31 European countries has found that short-term exposure to air pollution is linked to an estimated 146,500 premature deaths per year, according to research published in Nature Health.
The study, conducted by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) in collaboration with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, analysed nearly 89 million deaths recorded between 2003 and 2019 across 653 European regions, covering more than 530 million people. It provides the first Europe-wide estimate of short-term mortality associated with the combined effects of multiple air pollutants.
When analysed separately, PM 2.5 was associated with around 79,000 preventable deaths annually.
Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) followed with 69,000 deaths, while ozone (O₃) and PM10 were linked to 31,000 and 29,000 deaths respectively. The researchers point out that these figures cannot be simply added together, as pollutants often occur simultaneously and their effects overlap.
Zhao-Yue Chen, researcher at ISGlobal and first author of the study said: ‘Our study addressed these limitations by combining daily data on major air pollutants across Europe with a mortality database covering the whole population. This allows a more precise analysis of how short-term exposure affects people differently depending on age, sex and cause of death.’
The research revealed noticeable differences in vulnerability. Young men showed greater susceptibility to air pollutants than young women, possibly because of higher exposure from outdoor work, traffic and smoking. That said, this pattern reverses with age: among those aged 85 and older, women face the highest risk.
For particulate matter, the study found stronger associations with cardiovascular risks in women, while ozone had a greater impact on men.
Joan Ballester, researcher at ISGlobal and study coordinator. said: ‘Our findings are highly relevant for policymakers and public health professionals, as they support the use of epidemiological models fitted with data by sex, age and comorbidities to create a new generation of impact-based early warning systems (for example, the ERC-funded platform Forecaster.Health), which specifically target vulnerable groups.’
The full research can be read here.
Photo: Denis Poltoradnev
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