Global urban temporal trends in fine particulate matter (PM2·5) and attributable health burdens: estimates from global datasets

BackgroundWith much of the world's population residing in urban areas, an understanding of air pollution exposures at the city level can inform mitigation approaches. Previous studies of global urban air pollution have not considered trends in air pollutant concentrations nor corresponding attributable mortality burdens. We aimed to estimate trends in fine particulate matter (PM2·5) concentrations and associated mortality for cities globally.MethodsWe use high-resolution annual average PM2·5 concentrations, epidemiologically derived concentration response functions, and country-level baseline disease rates to estimate population-weighted PM2·5 concentrations and attributable cause-specific mortality in 13 160…

• NA
  National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• WT
  Wellcome Trust
• EC
  European Commission
• JR
  Joint Research Centre