title: Integrative health risk assessment of air pollution in the northwest of Spain.
abstract: Levels, origins and potential risks due to different air pollutants (ozone, SO2and particle-borne metals) in NW Spain were investigated in eight locations affected by different emission sources. All monitored locations suffered the influence of traffic and industrial emissions, being this influence more important in urban locations. Although average values of the estimated hazard index (HI) due to particle-borne metals showed values lower than one, maximum values of this parameter exceeded this safety limit in urban locations. In general, Ni and As were identified as those metals most contributing to the HI. Furthermore, the presence of industrial emission episodes produced a significant increase in the magnitude of the HI in two of the seven urban areas. Therefore, the frequency and intensity of these episodes should be further investigated. Finally, levels of airborne and particle-borne pollutants were integrated with the aim of providing a comprehensive assessment of health risk. According to an established indexing system, air quality can be classified from good to moderate, being the southern urban locations (the most densely populated and industrialised ones) presenting the worst values. However, either the high or the low influence of acute and chronic-effect pollutants on air quality depends on the location.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
authors.forename: Xela
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: García-Santiago
authors.affiliation: Environment Laboratory of Galicia, Autonomous Government of Galicia, A Coruña, Spain.
authors.forename: Nuria
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gallego-Fernández
authors.affiliation: Grupo Química Analítica Aplicada, Instituto Universitario de Medio Ambiente (IUMA), Centro de Investigaciones Científicas Avanzadas (CICA), Departamento de Química Analítica, Facultade de Ciencias, Universidade da Coruña, A Coruña, Spain.
authors.forename: Soledad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Muniategui-Lorenzo
authors.affiliation: Grupo Química Analítica Aplicada, Instituto Universitario de Medio Ambiente (IUMA), Centro de Investigaciones Científicas Avanzadas (CICA), Departamento de Química Analítica, Facultade de Ciencias, Universidade da Coruña, A Coruña, Spain.
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Piñeiro-Iglesias
authors.affiliation: Grupo Química Analítica Aplicada, Instituto Universitario de Medio Ambiente (IUMA), Centro de Investigaciones Científicas Avanzadas (CICA), Departamento de Química Analítica, Facultade de Ciencias, Universidade da Coruña, A Coruña, Spain.
authors.forename: Purificación
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: López-Mahía
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782, Santiago de Compostela, Spain. amaya.franco@usc.es.
authors.forename: Amaya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Franco-Uría
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000032:analysis*; D008670:Metals / Q000032:analysis; D010126:Ozone / Q000032:analysis; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000032:analysis; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013030:Spain; D013458:Sulfur Dioxide / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D008670:Metals; D052638:Particulate Matter; D013458:Sulfur Dioxide; D010126:Ozone
keywords: Acute and chronic exposure; Integrated assessment; Metals; Ozone; Particulate matter; SO2; Sources