Short-term Health Effects of Fine and Ultra-fine Particle Pollution in Beijing, China
Final Report Abstract
The goal of the study was to document the health impact of particulate air pollution in a time when the contribution of different sources changed in China. Investigations of this kind had been mostly conducted in Western Europe or North America under relatively clean ambient air conditions. Detailed size-resolved measurements of particles in the size range between 3 nm to 10 μm and data on cardio-respiratory mortality and emergency room visits in a hospital close to the measuring site were selected to distinguish between health effects of different fractions of particles. The detailed characterization of the gaseous phase as well as size distribution of fine and ultra-fine particles allowed the characterizing of the source of the pollution. The health impact of these sources was evaluated and provides further insight into the air pollution problem in Beijing. In summary, our results suggest that particle number concentrations are associated with cardio-respiratory mortality in Beijing, China. The findings further suggest that ultrafine particles may be of special importance for human health. At present, administrative air quality measurements of national networks, not only in China, measure only particle mass, such as PM10 or PM2.5. In the future, regular air pollution measurement systems should be extended by measurements of particle number concentrations.
Publications
- (2008). Short-term health effects of particulate air pollution in Beijing, China. Epidemiology 19(6): S153 Suppl.
Breitner S, Cyrys J, Brüske-Hohlfeld I, Franck U, Schlink U, Leitte A, Herbarth O, Wiedensohler A, Wehner B, Zhu T, Hu M, Pan X, Wichmann H, Peters A
- 2009. Short-term effects of submicron particulate air pollution on respiratory mortality in Beijing, china. Proceedings of 7th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, Istanbul, 24-27 March 2009
Leitte AM, Schlink U, Wehner B, Tuch T, Wedensohler A, Breitner S, Brüske-Hohlfeld I, Peters A, Zhu T, Hu M, Pan XC, Franck U
- 2009. The association between fine particulate air pollution and hospital emergency room visits for cardiovascular diseases in Beijing. China. Sci Total Environ 407(17):4826-30
Guo Y, Jia Y, Pan X, Liu L, Wichmann HE
