Objectives: to estimate the impact of PM2.5 and PM10 in the Italian industrial areas included in the SENTIERI project characterized by industrial plants with combustion processes deriving from point emissions.
Design: using satellite data, the Population Weighted Exposure (PWE) to PM2.5 and PM10 for 2011 and 2015 was estimated. The concentration-response functions available were used to estimate the number of premature deaths attributable to exposure to industrial emissions. The counterfactual levels recommended by the new WHO Air Quality Guidelines were used.
Setting and participants: for the selection of industrial plants, the European database on emissions of the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register was used. Residents in areas of 1 km x 1 km and 4 km x 4 km around the selected industrial plants were considered.
Main outcome measures: the number of premature deaths from non-accidental causes, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, and lung cancer was estimated.
Results: residents were exposed to PM2.5 values of 17.3 µg/m3 (Northern Italy: 23.3) and to 24.3 µg/m3 (Northern Italy: 30.3) of PM10. PWE for both pollutants tends to increase as the size of the area under study is reduced and it is generally higher everywhere in 2011 than in 2015, with values that are always higher than the average (overall) in the Norther Italy. In 2011, 1,709 (IC95% 1,309-1,903) and 1,611 (IC95% 1,225-2,353) non accidental premature deaths were estimated attributable to PM2.5 and PM10, respectively, in residents close to the industrial plants (1 km x 1 km). Deaths attributable to exposure to PM2.5 and PM10 tend to follow a North-Central-South&Islands gradient for all observed causes and for both years of analysis.
Conclusions: although exposure assessment of the population by using random-forest model does not allow to disentangle the contribution of the industrial component, the results of the study are suggestive of an impact on health from PM exposure in the industrial areas considered, with a greater impact in the vicinity of the plants, recommending the implementation of urgent impact reduction actions.
Keywords: HIA; air pollution; contaminated sites; particulate matter.