Estimating mortality derived from indoor exposure to particles of outdoor origin

PLoS One. 2015 Apr 10;10(4):e0124238. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0124238. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Following an extensive review of the literature, we further analyze the published data to examine the health effects of indoor exposure to particulate matter (PM) of outdoor origin. We obtained data on all-cause, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality per 10 μg/m3 increase in outdoor PM10 or PM2.5; the infiltration factors for buildings; and estimated time spent outdoors by individuals in the United States, Europe, China, and globally. These data were combined log-linear exposure-response model to estimate the all-cause, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality of exposure to indoor PM pollution of outdoor origin. Indoor PM pollution of outdoor origin is a cause of considerable mortality, accounting for 81% to 89% of the total increase in mortality associated with exposure to outdoor PM pollution for the studied regions. The findings suggest that enhancing the capacity of buildings to protect occupants against exposure to outdoor PM pollution has significant potential to improve public health outcomes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Air Pollutants / toxicity*
  • Air Pollution, Indoor / adverse effects*
  • Air Pollution, Indoor / prevention & control
  • China / epidemiology
  • Environmental Exposure
  • Environmental Monitoring
  • Europe / epidemiology
  • Humans
  • Mortality
  • Particulate Matter / toxicity*
  • Public Health
  • Time Factors
  • United States / epidemiology

Substances

  • Air Pollutants
  • Particulate Matter

Grants and funding

This study was funded by the special fund of the Key Laboratory of Eco Planning & Green Building, Ministry of Education (Tsinghua University), China and Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology (TNList) Cross-discipline Foundation. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.