The 2010 Global Burden of Disease project (GBD 2010, published in the Lancet on December 15, 2012) has found that outdoor air pollution in the form of fine particles is a much more significant public health risk than previously known ? contributing annually to over 3.2 million premature deaths worldwide and over 76 million years of healthy life lost. Outdoor air pollution now ranks among the to global health risk burdens. At a workshop held on March 31, 2013 in Beijing, HEI presented for the first time the latest outdoor air pollution results of the GBD 2010 analysis for China. The analysis estimates that air pollution contributes to about 1.2 million premature deaths and 25 million healthy years of life lost in 2010 for China alone. Outdoor air pollution now ranks at number 4 among all risk factors contributing to the health burden in China. The China-specific results were derived from the larger global GBD 2010 effort, using detailed estimates of air pollution exposure at the national level as well as China-specific levels of baseline mortality and incidence of the five leading causes of death.
Dr. Majid Ezzati of Imperial College London presented an overview of the GBD methods and overall results. Dr. Aaron Cohen, Principal Epidemiologist of HEI and Co-Chair of the GBD Ambient Air Pollution Expert Group presented the China-specific results at the Workshop. This new analysis identifies especially high risk levels in China and the developing countries of Asia where air pollution levels are the highest in the world. It documents that household air pollution from the burning of solid fuels is responsible for a substancial burden of disease in low- and middle-income countries. The analysis shows that reducing the burden disease due to air pollution in Asia will require substancial decreases in the high levels of air pollution in those regions. For more detailed information, a Press Release and a Methods Summary have been prepared in both English and Chinese.
(Source:HEI,http://www.healtheffects.org/international.htm)
