Particulate matter and human health in the United Kingdom

Using epidemiological meta studies for the health impacts of small particulate matter — PM10 — it is possible to predict the number of premature deaths and some morbidity impacts in the UK from prevailing ambient concentrations. The analysis suggests that as many as 12 000 deaths might be attributed to total concentrations, or perhaps 7000 deaths if only ‘anthropogenic’ PM10 is included. The nature of these premature deaths is unclear. They are almost certainly among the older population so that foreshortened lives may be measured in days, months or years. Morbidity effects can similarly be estimated, the main ones of policy concern being chronic bronchitis and ‘restricted activity days’. Unit economic values are applied to these health impacts in order to ‘collapse’ different impacts into a common unit. The end result is a premature mortality cost of about £11.1 billion (urban plus rural exposure) and a further £6.3 billion for urban morbidity.

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