Burden of disease due to indoor exposures in Europe

摘要

Poor air quality is a leading contributor to the global burden of disease and mortality worldwide. People spend most of their time in built indoor environments, highlighting the special role of indoor air quality. While the importance of environmental pollution in general is well-linked to the global burden of disease, the quantitative understanding of the role of indoor exposure is lagging behind. Known contributing indoor exposures include particles and ozone from outdoor and indoor sources, and indoor sources such as tobacco smoking as well as building-related emissions from construction materials (e.g. volatile organic compounds), toxic and harmful emissions due to dampness and mould, radon from soil and carbon monoxide from combustion devices. The overall aim of this presentation is to give an overview of the European estimates from EnVIE, IAIAQ, HEALTHVENT and EBODE projects, supplemented by exposure/infiltration results for PM2.5. The Global Burden of Disease community, with World Health Organization (WHO) and Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in the lead, has moved towards non-discounted, non-age-weighted estimates and shifted from incidence to prevalence based estimation. These changes do have a substantial impact on the numerical values. Nevertheless, the overall burden remains dominated by fine particulate matter (PM2.5 ) from outdoor air sources, followed by indoor generated particles, radon, bioaerosols (as allergens), and second hand smoke. Wider application of burden of disease methods would allow for prioritization of preventive measures and optimized uses of resources. There remains a large potential for improvement in accounting for morbidity and better understanding of effects on wellbeing, happiness and productivity.