Health impact assessment of exposure to inhalable particles in Lisbon Metropolitan Area

Abstract

This study is focused on the assessment of potential health benefits in Lisbon Metropolitan Area, Portugal, using the limit values defined by the new European Directive (2008/50/CE) for short and long-term exposure to PM 10. For this purpose, the methodology of the WHO for Health Impact Assessment and Apheis guidelines for data collection was applied. The time series of PM10 concentrations measured within the study area at urban background stations together with demographic data and health indicators were considered. An improved methodology using population mobility data that describes daily average Origin-Destination trips is proposed in this work to analyse the number of persons exposed. The results provide quantitative information on the number of attributable cases potentially prevented annually by reducing PM10 concentration to the levels established by the Air Quality Directive and proposed by WHO guidelines for this pollutant. An intercomparison of two approaches to process input data for the health risk analysis provides information on the sensitivity of the applied methodology. © 2009 WIT Press.