Health Risks and Economic Costs of Absenteeism Due to Air Pollution in São Paulo, Brazil

ABSTRACTThis study aims to estimate the health risks and economic losses due to the effects of air pollution, with a focus on traffic controllers, and to estimate the associated costs through the use of work loss days (WLD) as an indicator of morbidity in Sao Paulo from 2000 to 2007. The association between traffic controllers’ absenteeism and air pollution was determined by generalized linear models (GLM). The increase in relative risk for WLD was 2.08 (95% CI: 2.04–2.12) per 10 μg/m3 PM10, which in monetary terms represented 9,430 USD/year, equivalent to 133 absences per 1,308 traffic controllers annually that are attributable to air pollution (accumulated total cost was USD 75,439, which was 19% of the company’s operational expenses during the period). These results were extrapolated for the economically active population, and we found that air pollution resulted in 129,832 absences/year and a cost of USD 6,472,686 (77% related to lost wages) per 3,555,237 workers. The estimated values are relevant for planning environmental policies, and are sufficient to promote corrective and preventive actions to avoid this externality.

[1]  Bert Brunekreef,et al.  Association between mortality and indicators of traffic-related air pollution in the Netherlands: a cohort study , 2002, The Lancet.

[2]  D. Dockery,et al.  Acute respiratory effects of particulate air pollution. , 1994, Annual review of public health.

[3]  Simone Georges El Khouri Miraglia,et al.  An Evaluation of Air Pollution Health Impacts and Costs in São Paulo, Brazil , 2005, Environmental management.

[4]  Ina S. Markham,et al.  Biometeorological effects on worker absenteeism , 2005, International journal of biometeorology.

[5]  Paulo Hilário do Nascimento Saldiva,et al.  Ambient Levels of Air Pollution Induce Goblet-Cell Hyperplasia in Human Conjunctival Epithelium , 2007, Environmental health perspectives.

[6]  B. Ostro.  The effects of air pollution on work loss and morbidity , 1983 .

[7]  B. Ostro,et al.  Air pollution and morbidity revisited: A specification test , 1987 .

[8]  P. Saldiva,et al.  Increased levels of air pollution and a decrease in the human and mouse male-to-female ratio in São Paulo, Brazil. , 2007, Fertility and sterility.

[9]  U Keil,et al.  Self-reported wheezing and allergic rhinitis in children and traffic density on street of residence. , 1994, Annals of epidemiology.

[10]  Nelson Gouveia,et al.  The avoidable health effects of air pollution in three Latin American cities: Santiago, São Paulo, and Mexico City. , 2006, Environmental research.

[11]  Joel Schwartz,et al.  The Effects of Air Pollution on Hospitalizations for Cardiovascular Disease in Elderly People in Australian and New Zealand Cities , 2006, Environmental health perspectives.

[12]  Mark A. Delucchi,et al.  THE EXTERNAL DAMAGE COST OF NOISE EMITTED FROM MOTOR VEHICLES , 1998 .

[13]  Anett C. Hansen,et al.  Air Pollution and Sick-leaves , 2000 .

[14]  J Schwartz,et al.  Airborne particles are a risk factor for hospital admissions for heart and lung disease. , 2000, Environmental health perspectives.

[15]  P. Saldiva,et al.  Modelos MLG e MAG para análise da associação entre poluição atmosférica e marcadores de morbi-mortalidade: uma introdução baseada em dados da cidade de São Paulo , 2001 .

[16]  A. Correa,et al.  A review of the literature on the effects of ambient air pollution on fetal growth. , 2004, Environmental research.

[17]  Howard M Kipen,et al.  Acute effects of motor vehicle traffic‐related air pollution exposures on measures of oxidative stress in human airways , 2010, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[18]  P. Versura,et al.  Eye Discomfort and Air Pollution , 1999, Ophthalmologica.

[19]  D. Dockery,et al.  Particulate air pollution as a predictor of mortality in a prospective study of U.S. adults. , 1995, American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine.

[20]  Javier Bilbao-Ubillos,et al.  The costs of urban congestion: Estimation of welfare losses arising from congestion on cross-town link roads , 2008 .

[21]  C. Borror.  Generalized Linear Models and Extensions, Second Edition , 2008 .

[22]  B. Ostro,et al.  Air pollution and acute respiratory morbidity: an observational study of multiple pollutants. , 1989, Environmental research.

[23]  B D Ostro.  Air pollution and morbidity: a sensitivity analysis of alternative monitors, pollutants, and averaging times. , 1984, The Science of the total environment.

[24]  J. Stockman,et al.  Fine-Particulate Air Pollution and Life Expectancy in the United States , 2010 .

[25]  M. Clyde,et al.  Health Effects of Air Pollution: A Statistical Review , 2003 .

[26]  Who Europe.  Air Quality Guidelines Global Update 2005: Particulate Matter, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide , 2006 .

[27]  J. Wijnen,et al.  TRAFFIC-RELATED AIR POLLUTANTS : EXPOSURE OF ROAD USERS AND POPULATIONS LIVING NEAR BUSY ROADS , 1998 .

[28]  James L. Perry,et al.  ECONOMIC AND OCCUPATIONAL CAUSES OF TRANSIT OPERATOR ABSENTEEISM : A REVIEW OF RESEARCH , 1985 .

[29]  D. Wise,et al.  Air Pollution and Lost Work , 1984 .

[30]  Paulo Hilário do Nascimento Saldiva,et al.  Air Pollution and Emergency Room Visits Due to Chronic Lower Respiratory Diseases in the Elderly: An Ecological Time-Series Study in São Paulo, Brazil , 2002, Journal of occupational and environmental medicine.

[31]  M. Burr,et al.  Effects on respiratory health of a reduction in air pollution from vehicle exhaust emissions , 2004, Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

[32]  A. Braga,et al.  Influence of socioeconomic conditions on air pollution adverse health effects in elderly people: an analysis of six regions in São Paulo, Brazil , 2003, Journal of epidemiology and community health.

[33]  D. Dockery,et al.  An association between air pollution and mortality in six U.S. cities. , 1993, The New England journal of medicine.

[34]  Jonathan I Levy,et al.  Land use regression modeling of intra-urban residential variability in multiple traffic-related air pollutants , 2008, Environmental health : a global access science source.

[35]  R. Burnett,et al.  Lung cancer, cardiopulmonary mortality, and long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution. , 2002, JAMA.

[36]  D. Dockery,et al.  Air pollution and mortality in elderly people: a time-series study in Sao Paulo, Brazil. , 1995, Archives of environmental health.