title: Exposure-response functions for health effects of air pollutants based on epidemiological findings.
abstract: Quantitative knowledge about health damage due to air pollution is an important element in analyses of cost-effective abatement strategies, and is also essential for setting Air Quality Standards. Epidemiological studies, in spite of the numerous problems connected to them, provide a reasonable basis for exposure-response functions in this context. On the basis of a literature review, exposure-response functions that relate ambient air pollutant concentrations to the frequency of various health effects are recommended in this paper. The following end-points were examined: Acute and chronic respiratory symptoms in children and adults, crude mortality, and lung cancer incidence. The effects are attributed to one indicator component, which in most cases is particles. A calculation procedure is suggested which makes it possible to estimate excess annual symptom-days for short-term effects using the annual average concentration.
authors.affiliation: CICERO, University of Oslo, Norway. kristin.aunan@cicero.uio.no
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aunan
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000517:prevention & control; D002648:Child; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D009026:Mortality; D011634:Public Health; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012905:Smog / Q000009:adverse effects
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D012905:Smog