Assessing the premature death due to ambient particulate matter in China’s urban areas from 2004 to 2013

Abstract

The number of annual premature deaths attributable to China’s air pollution ranged from 350000 to 520000 from 2004 to 2013, while the figure in 2013 reached 9.9% of total deaths in China.

In 2004, the life expectancy potential years of life lost was 69.6 and 1.85 years respectively in contrast to 74.4 and 0.67 years respectively in 2013.

The number of PYLL attributable to air pollution in the northern regions is found to be larger than that of the southern regions.

The Environmental Burden of Disease (EBD) approach for outdoor air pollution has been used to calculate premature deaths and average potential years of life lost attributable to air pollution in China over the past 10 years with differences between the North and the South of the country being analyzed. The results indicate that: (1) Between 2004 and 2013, annual premature deaths attributable to outdoor air pollution in China ranged from 350000 to 520000. In 2013, deaths resulting from air pollution in China represented 9.9% of the country’s total deaths. (2) In 2004, the average life expectancy of the Chinese population and the number of potential years of life lost (PYLL) attributable to air pollution was 69.6 and 1.85 years respectively as compared to 74.4 and 0.67 years respectively in 2013. (3) The number of the PYLL attributable to air pollution in the northern regions of China is found to be larger than that of the southern regions. The PYLL figures of the northern and southern regions in 2004 were 2.3 and 1.8 years, respectively, with a difference of 0.5 years, as compared to 1.4 and 0.7 years respectively with a difference of 0.7 years in 2013.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Air pollution / Public health / Premature deaths / Health assessment

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41371533), the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection’s Fiscal Program “Research on the Establishment of China Environmental Economics Measurement System” (No. 1441100040), and Public Utility Research Program of Ministry of Environmental Protection (No. 201309043).

Funding

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2016 Higher Education Press and Springer–Verlag Berlin Heidelberg