title: Survey of Ambient Air Pollution Health Risk Assessment Tools.
abstract: Designing air quality policies that improve public health can benefit from information about air pollution health risks and impacts, which include respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and premature death. Several computer-based tools help automate air pollution health impact assessments and are being used for a variety of contexts. Expanding information gathered for a May 2014 World Health Organization expert meeting, we survey 12 multinational air pollution health impact assessment tools, categorize them according to key technical and operational characteristics, and identify limitations and challenges. Key characteristics include spatial resolution, pollutants and health effect outcomes evaluated, and method for characterizing population exposure, as well as tool format, accessibility, complexity, and degree of peer review and application in policy contexts. While many of the tools use common data sources for concentration-response associations, population, and baseline mortality rates, they vary in the exposure information source, format, and degree of technical complexity. We find that there is an important tradeoff between technical refinement and accessibility for a broad range of applications. Analysts should apply tools that provide the appropriate geographic scope, resolution, and maximum degree of technical rigor for the intended assessment, within resources constraints. A systematic intercomparison of the tools' inputs, assumptions, calculations, and results would be helpful to determine the appropriateness of each for different types of assessment. Future work would benefit from accounting for multiple uncertainty sources and integrating ambient air pollution health impact assessment tools with those addressing other related health risks (e.g., smoking, indoor pollution, climate change, vehicle accidents, physical activity).
authors.affiliation: Environmental Health Analytics, LLC, Washington, DC, USA. susan.anenberg@envhealthanalytics.com.
authors.forename: Susan C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Anenberg
authors.affiliation: Abt Associates, Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Belova
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark.
authors.forename: Jørgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brandt
authors.affiliation: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Neal
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fann
authors.affiliation: Public Health Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Sue
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Greco
authors.affiliation: Division of Atmospheric Sciences, Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV, USA.
authors.forename: Sarath
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guttikunda
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Marie-Eve
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Heroux
authors.affiliation: Institute of Occupational Medicine, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Fintan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hurley
authors.affiliation: Environmental Research Group, King's College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Krzyzanowski
authors.affiliation: French Institute for Public Health Surveillance, Saint Maurice, France.
authors.forename: Sylvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Medina
authors.affiliation: Institute of Occupational Medicine, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: The World Bank, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Kiran
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pandey
authors.affiliation: Institute of Energy Economics and Rational Use of Energy, University Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Roos
authors.affiliation: European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES), Ispra, VA, Italy.
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Van Dingenen
keywords: Air pollution; health impact assessment tools; mortality; ozone; particulate matter