title: Estimates of global mortality attributable to particulate air pollution using satellite imagery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Epidemiological studies of the health effects of air pollution have traditionally relied upon ground-monitoring stations to measure ambient concentrations. Satellite derived air pollution measures offer the advantage of providing global coverage.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To undertake a global assessment of mortality associated with long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution using remote sensing data.
  
  
  METHODS
  Global PM(2.5) exposure levels were derived from the MODIS and MISR satellite instruments. Relative risks and attributable fractions of mortality were modeled using previously developed concentration-response functions for the association between PM(2.5) and mortality.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The global fraction of adult mortality attributable to the anthropogenic component of PM(2.5) (95% CI) was 8.0% (5.3-10.5) for cardiopulmonary disease, 12.8% (5.9-18.5) for lung cancer, and 9.4% (6.6-11.8) for ischemic heart disease.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrates the feasibility of using satellite derived pollution concentrations in assessing the population health impacts of air pollution at the global scale. This approach leads to global estimates of mortality attributable to PM(2.5) that are greater than those based on fixed site ground-level measures of urban PM(2.5), but more similar to estimates based on global chemical transport model simulations of anthropogenic PM(2.5).
authors.affiliation: McLaughlin Centre for Population Health Risk Assessment, Institute of Population Health, University of Ottawa, 1 Stewart Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1N 6N5. jessica.evans@mail.mcgill.ca
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van Donkelaar
authors.forename: Randall V
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Burnett
authors.forename: Daniel G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Rainham
authors.forename: Nicholas J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Birkett
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Krewski
mesh_terms: D000397:Air Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002947:Cities; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality; D009026:Mortality; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000401:mortality; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011660:Pulmonary Heart Disease / Q000401:mortality; D017215:Satellite Communications; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D035501:Uncertainty
chemical_list: D052638:Particulate Matter