Estimating residential air pollution exposure among citizens in Oslo 1974-1998 using a geographical information system.
Annual concentration fields of SO2 and NOx for the period 1974-1998 are calculated for a 22 x 18 km2-grid in Oslo. In a study of lung cancer and air pollution in Oslo, 16209 men living in Oslo have been followed from 1972/73 to 1998. This paper presents a method for estimating their annual residential air pollution exposure for SO2 and NOx. In the exposure assessment the National Population Register provided information on home addresses. Each participant was given an annual average air pollutant concentration outdoors of the address he lived the largest part of that year. Persons living close to streets with high traffic were given an additional concentration, and persons who moved outside Oslo were given a region value for each year. Due to regulations of the sulfur content in fuel oil and a general change of local heating systems to electricity or distant heating, the SO2-concentrations in Central Oslo were reduced during the period from about 60 microg m(-3) in 1974-75 to about 4 microg m(-3) in 1997-98. Due to the increasing traffic the NOx-concentrations have increased slowly, from about 40 microg m(-3) in 1974-84 to about 60 microg m(-3) in 1989. After the introduction of catalyst cars the concentrations were reduced to about 45 microg m(-3) in 1997-98.
Gram
Frederick
F
Norwegian Institute of Air Research, P.O. Box 100, 2027 Kjeller, Norway. frederick.gram@nilu.no
Nafstad
Per
P
Håheim
Lise Lund
LL
D000328:Adult; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000032:analysis*; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009664:Norway; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012621:Seasons; D013458:Sulfur Dioxide / Q000032:analysis; D014505:Urban Population; D001335:Vehicle Emissions
D000393:Air Pollutants; D001335:Vehicle Emissions; D013458:Sulfur Dioxide