Estimating the health impact of air pollution in Scotland, and the resulting benefits of reducing concentrations in city centres

Lee, D. , Roertson, C., Ramsay, C., Gillespie, C. and Napier, G. (2019) Estimating the health impact of air pollution in Scotland, and the resulting benefits of reducing concentrations in city centres. Spatial and Spatio-Temporal Epidemiology, 29, pp. 85-96. (doi: 10.1016/j.sste.2019.02.003)

[img] Text
180700.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives.

2MB
[img]
Preview
Text
180700Suppl.pdf - Supplemental Material

1MB

Abstract

Air pollution continues to be a key health issue in Scotland, despite recent improvements in concentrations. The Scottish Government published the Cleaner Air For Scotland strategy in 2015, and will introduce Low Emission Zones (LEZs) in the four major cities (Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow) by 2020. However, there is no epidemiological evidence quantifying the current health impact of air pollution in Scotland, which this paper addresses. Additionally, we estimate the health benefits of reducing concentrations in city centres where most LEZs are located. We focus on cardio-respiratory disease and total non-accidental mortality outcomes, linking them to concentrations of both particulate (PM10 and PM2.5) and gaseous (NO2 and NOx) pollutants. Our two main findings are that: (i) all pollutants exhibit significant associations with respiratory disease but not cardiovascular disease; and (ii) reducing concentrations in city centres with low resident populations only provides a small health benefit.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Lee, Professor Duncan and Napier, Dr Gary
Authors: Lee, D., Roertson, C., Ramsay, C., Gillespie, C., and Napier, G.
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Mathematics and Statistics > Statistics
Journal Name:Spatial and Spatio-Temporal Epidemiology
Publisher:Elsevier
ISSN:1877-5845
ISSN (Online):1877-5853
Published Online:09 April 2019
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd.
First Published:First published in Spatial and Spatio-Temporal Epidemiology 29:85-96
Publisher Policy:Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy

University Staff: Request a correction | Enlighten Editors: Update this record

Project CodeAward NoProject NamePrincipal InvestigatorFunder's NameFunder RefLead Dept
730762SECURE: Feasibility testing of low-cost sensors to represent spatio-temporal variability of ambient ground-level NO2 and O3 concentrationsE Marian ScottEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)EP/M008347/1M&S - STATISTICS