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Climate Change and Human Health Literature Portal The interplay of climate change and air pollution on health

Climate Change and Human Health Literature Portal

Orru H, Ebi KL, Forsberg B
2017
Current Environmental Health Reports. 4 (4): 504-513

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Air pollution significantly affects health, causing up to 7 million premature deaths annually with an even larger number of hospitalizations and days of sick leave. Climate change could alter the dispersion of primary pollutants, particularly particulate matter, and intensify the formation of secondary pollutants, such as near-surface ozone. The purpose of the review is to evaluate the recent evidence on the impacts of climate change on air pollution and air pollution-related health impacts and identify knowledge gaps for future research. RECENT FINDINGS: Several studies modelled future ozone and particulate matter concentrations and calculated the resulting health impacts under different climate scenarios. Due to climate change, ozone- and fine particle-related mortalities are expected to increase in most studies; however, results differ by region, assumed climate change scenario and other factors such as population and background emissions. This review explores the relationships between climate change, air pollution and air pollution-related health impacts. The results highly depend on the climate change scenario used and on projections of future air pollution emissions, with relatively high uncertainty. Studies primarily focused on mortality; projections on the effects on morbidity are needed.

Expand Abstract

Resource Description

    Air Pollution, Temperature
    • Air Pollution, Temperature: Ground-Level Ozone, Interaction with Temperature, Particulate Matter
    • Air Pollution, Temperature: Heat
    Global or Unspecified Location
    Morbidity/Mortality
    Exposure Change Prediction, Outcome Change Prediction
    Inter-Annual (1-10 years), Long-Term (>10 years)
    Review Article
    Adaptation, Policy, Research Gap
    • Adaptation, Policy, Research Gap: Intervention
    Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP), Special Report on Emissions Scenario (SRES)
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