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An Evaluation of Air Pollution Health Impacts and Costs in São Paulo, Brazil

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Abstract

The need to determine cost estimates of the hazardous effects of diseases is important in order to establish the priorities of actions for prevention and health management. The evaluation of air pollution impacts on health, based on expenditures, has been carried out, but there are obvious comparison difficulties among countries, as the health-per-capita investment varies enormously. In order to achieve a standard indicator, we applied the Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY) method to estimate the health burden and cost estimate due to air pollution in São Paulo, Brazil. The basic methodology was the utilization of dose–response curves of epidemiological studies conducted in São Paulo to assess air pollution and its health effects. DALY attributable to air pollution in São Paulo added up to 28,212 years annually. An indirect health cost attributable to air pollution resulted in US$ 3,222,676. This estimate refers to the children and the elderly population. These results give a preliminary and underestimated value of the burden of diseases promoted by air pollution.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the following Brazilian institutions: FAPESP and LIM-HCFMUSP.

The authors thank Antonio Leal Costa, Epidemiologist of the Preventive Medicine of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and Alberto Cukier, Pneumologist of the Hospital of São Paulo University’s Faculty of Medicine, for comments on the methodology. The authors also thank Jeannie Renné, Senior Project Leader, International and Environmental Programs of National Renewable Energy Laboratory for the English editing and revision.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Experimental Air PollutionDepartment of PathologySchool of MedicineUniversity of São PauloSão Paulo, BrazilEnvironmental Engineering Faculty, University São Marcos, São Paulo, Brazil

    Simone Georges El Khouri Miraglia

  2. Laboratory of Experimental Air PollutionDepartment of PathologySchool of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Paulo Hilário Nascimento Saldiva

  3. Laboratory of Experimental Air PollutionDepartment of PathologySchool of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    György Miklós Böhm

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  1. Simone Georges El Khouri Miraglia
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  2. Paulo Hilário Nascimento Saldiva
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Correspondence to Simone Georges El Khouri Miraglia.

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Miraglia, S.G.E.K., Saldiva, P.H.N. & Böhm, G.M. An Evaluation of Air Pollution Health Impacts and Costs in São Paulo, Brazil. Environmental Management 35, 667–676 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-004-0042-9

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