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Ambient air pollution of particles and gas pollutants, and the predicted health risks from long-term exposure to PM2.5 in Zhejiang province, China

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Abstract

In recent years, ambient air has been severely contaminated by particulate matters (PMs) and some gas pollutants (nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2)) in China, and many studies have demonstrated that exposure to these pollutants can induce great adverse impacts on human health. The concentrations of the pollutants were much higher in winter than those in summer, and the average concentrations in this studied area were lower than those in northern China. In the comparison between high-resolution emission inventory and spatial distribution of PM2.5, significant positive linear correlation was found. Though the pollutants had similar trends, NO2 and SO2 delayed with 1 h to PM2.5. Besides, PM2.5 had a lag time of 1 h to temperature and relative humidity. Significant linear correlation was found among pollutants and meteorological conditions, suggesting the impact of meteorological conditions on ambient air pollution other than emission. For the 24-h trend, lowest concentrations of PM2.5, NO2, and SO2 were found around 15:00–18:00. In 2015, the population attributable fractions (PAFs) for ischemic heart disease (IHD), cerebrovascular disease (stroke), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer (LC), and acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) due to the exposure to PM2.5 in Zhejiang province were 25.82, 38.94, 17.73, 22.32, and 31.14%, respectively. The population-weighted mortality due to PM2.5 exposure in Zhejiang province was lower than the average level of the whole country—China.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41701584 and 21337005), Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (LZ15B07000), and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2017 M612025).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology for Industrial Pollution Control of Zhejiang Province, College of Environment, Research Center of Environmental Science, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310032, China

    Yuanchen Chen, Lu Zang, Quan Zhang, Jinyuan Chen & Meirong Zhao

  2. Ministry of Education Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Wei Du & Guofeng Shen

  3. Zhejiang Province Environmental Monitoring Center, Hangzhou, 310012, China

    Da Xu, Qiaoli Zou & Defei Yao

Authors
  1. Yuanchen Chen
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  2. Lu Zang
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  3. Wei Du
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  5. Guofeng Shen
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  6. Quan Zhang
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  10. Defei Yao
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Correspondence to Defei Yao.

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Chen, Y., Zang, L., Du, W. et al. Ambient air pollution of particles and gas pollutants, and the predicted health risks from long-term exposure to PM2.5 in Zhejiang province, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 23833–23844 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2420-5

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