Apheis:: Health impact assessment of long-term exposure to PM2.5 in 23 European cities

Introduction: Apheis aims to provide European decision makers, environmental-health professionals and the general public with up-to-date and easy-to-use information on air pollution (AP) and public health (PH). In the Apheis-3 phase we quantified the PH impact of long-term exposure to PM2.5 ( particulate matter < 2.5 mu m) in terms of attributable number of deaths and the potential gain in life expectancy in 23 European cities. Methods: We followed the World Health Organization ( WHO) methodology for Health Impact Assessment ( HIA) and the Apheis guidelines for data collection and analysis. We used the programme created by PSAS-9 for attributable-cases calculations and the WHO software AirQ to estimate the potential gain in life expectancy. For most cities, PM2.5 levels were calculated from PM10 measurements using a local or European conversion factor. Results: The HIA estimated that 16,926 premature deaths from all causes, including 11,612 cardiopulmonary deaths and 1901 lung-cancer deaths, could be prevented annually if long-term exposure to PM2.5 levels were reduced to 15 mu g/m(3) in each city. Equivalently, this reduction would increase life expectancy at age 30 by a range between one month and more than two years in the Apheis cities. Conclusions: In addition to the number of attributable cases, our HIA has estimated the potential gain in life expectancy for long-term exposure to. ne particles, contributing to a better quanti. cation of the impact of AP on PH in Europe.