title: Impact of traffic-related air pollution on health.
abstract: Road transport contributes significantly to air quality problems through vehicle emissions, which have various detrimental impacts on public health and the environment. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of traffic-related air pollution on health of Warsaw citizens, following the basics of the Health Impact Assessment (HIA) method, and evaluate its social cost. PM10 was chosen as an indicator of traffic-related air pollution. Exposure-response functions between air pollution and health impacts were employed. The value of statistical life (VSL) approach was used for the estimation of the cost of mortality attributable to traffic-related air pollution. Costs of hospitalizations and restricted activity days were assessed basing on the cost of illness (COI) method. According to the calculations, about 827 Warsaw citizens die in a year as a result of traffic-related air pollution. Also, about 566 and 250 hospital admissions due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, respectively, and more than 128,453 restricted activity days can be attributed to the traffic emissions. From the social perspective, these losses generate the cost of 1,604 million PLN (1 EUR-approx. 4.2 PLN). This cost is very high and, therefore, more attention should be paid for the integrated environmental health policy.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jakubiak-Lasocka
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lasocki
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Siekmeier
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chłopek
mesh_terms: D000397:Air Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D006801:Humans; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000009:adverse effects; D001335:Vehicle Emissions / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D052638:Particulate Matter; D001335:Vehicle Emissions