1. Introduction
Several epidemiological studies have demonstrated a strong association between acute and chronic exposures to Particulate Matter (PM) with an aerodynamic diameter <10 μm (PM
10) or <2.5 μm (PM
2.5) and cardiovascular diseases [
1,
2,
3,
4,
5]. In this context, the World Health Organization (WHO) and many national governments have set health-based Air Quality Standards (AQS) for PM and ozone due to the high evidence that these pollutants could lead to several outcomes that impact health. The technical analyses of the benefits of air quality programs or public policies regarding pollutants concentration have become an increasingly important component of national decision-making.
PM is a mixture of solid and liquid particles and its composition and size may vary; in urban areas, its concentration is a matter of concern. PM is derived from emissions from mobile sources such as cars, motorbikes, buses and trucks, and also from stationary sources such as heating furnaces, power plants and factories [
6]. Ozone is one of the most toxic components of the photochemical air pollution mixture and it has been associated with increases in mortality and hospital admissions due to respiratory and cardiovascular disease [
7].
Although air pollution is an intrinsically urban issue, numerous international studies have shown evidence that lowering air pollution exposure leads to less adverse health effects [
8,
9,
10]. In an era in which the importance of sustainable development and its impact on environment and public health has gained even more recognition worldwide, this outcome has forced policymakers to tackle the problem of air pollution [
11]. The authors of a Belgian study projected that reduced healthcare costs for air pollution levels above the WHO guideline for PM
2.5 would be €51 million for ischemic heart diseases and heart rhythm disturbances combined [
11]. In Iran, Brajer et al. [
12], have estimated the annual economic benefits of this reduced risk would be US$378.5 million, if health-based WHO-recommended annual average PM
2.5 standards were met.
In Brazil, Miraglia and Gouveia [
13] have estimated the cost of premature deaths due to air pollution in 29 Brazilian capital cities and the result was a loss of US$1.7 billion annually [
13]. Nevertheless, it is necessary to conduct comprehensive studies and pursue diverse research approaches. One of the recommended methodologies that focuses on the issue is the “Health Impact Assessment” (HIA) methodology. According to WHO, HIA is “a combination of procedures, methods, and tools used to evaluate the potential health effects of a policy, program or project. Using qualitative, quantitative and participatory techniques, HIA aims to produce recommendations that will help decision makers and other stakeholders make choices about alternatives and improvements to prevent disease/injury and to actively promote health” [
14].
HIA methodology is derived from the WHO-HIA general method [
15] and quantifies the impact of air pollution exposure on health using some successive steps that include selecting concentration-response function, usually expressed as relative risks from epidemiological studies; includes the distribution of effects on the target population; promotes the creation of health indicators and calculates the number of attributable health cases as mortality and morbidity cases [
16]. This recent methodology has already been used by others studies combined with one or two predictive scenarios of air pollution [
17,
18,
19]. In Brazil, there are no studies involving HIA and associated costs with reducing pollution levels scenarios. In this study, we aimed to determine potentially avoided negative health effects and costs resulting from an abatement of air pollution in São Paulo, Brazil.
4. Discussion
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil and the capital of the state of São Paulo. It has the world's seventh largest Gross National Product and population. It exerts strong regional influence in commerce, finance, culture and entertainment and has an impressive international influence [
32]. As the largest city in Brazil, São Paulo has high levels of air pollution and consequently several associated health outcomes.
Considering the analyzed period (2009 through 2011), the ambient levels of PM
10, PM
2.5 and ozone were higher than those recommended by WHO to protect public health. The chronic effects of air pollution have been considered by estimating the number of years of life lost due to long-term exposure to air pollution. In this sense, morbidity was considered only for acute effects of air pollution (e.g., cardiorespiratory hospitalizations, asthma or bronchitis symptoms) [
19,
33]. However, nowadays it is known that chronic morbidity due to air pollution also has impacts on health and the healthcare system in addition to acute effects [
19].
Our findings and predictive scenarios showed the potential economic gain if a marked and sustained reduction in ambient ozone and PM levels could be reduced to WHO compliance levels. The more important health burden was considered to be the impacts of chronic exposure to PM
2.5 [
4,
34]. Regarding this pollutant, levels complying with the WHO guideline of 10 μg/m
3 in annual mean would add up to 15.8 months of life expectancy, corresponding to a postponement of 5012 deaths and a gain of US$15.1 billion annually, excluding savings on health expenditures, absenteeism and intangible costs such as quality of life and life expectancy. Mortality remains our best choice for health outcomes, as it is robust, easy to obtain from existing high-quality records in São Paulo and not subject to misclassification [
17]. Nevertheless, we also used hospitalization data; but they are less robust and more heterogeneous.
The decrease in quality of life and life expectancy due to air pollution is a common phenomenon. Recently, Perez et al. [
19] have observed the causal relationship between asthma and near road traffic-related pollution exposure in 15% of all episodes of asthma symptoms. In the same study, they found similar patterns for coronary heart diseases in older adults. Moreover, in the case of cardiovascular mortality and myocardial infarction, there is also a large amount of evidence that acute and chronic health outcomes are related [
5,
35,
36].
In a more comprehensive review of the new evidence linking PM exposure with cardiovascular disease, the American Heart Association focused on the clinical implications for researchers and healthcare providers. Studies have shown that exposure to PM
2.5 over a few hours to weeks can trigger cardiovascular disease-related mortality and nonfatal events; and longer-term exposure could increase the adverse effects on microvascular functions and the risk for cardiovascular mortality [
35,
37]. However, reductions in PM levels are associated with decreases in cardiovascular mortality within a period as short as a few years [
35]. In this sense, the gain in quality of life and health outcomes due to the reduction of air pollution levels could be perceived in a few years by the population, becoming essentially the implementation of more stringent public policies on air quality in Sao Paulo and other large Brazilian cities.
Pascal et al. [
17] conducted a large APHEKOM study in 25 European cities and the main economic outcome regarding mortality benefits of complying with the WHO standards of 10 μg/m
3 for PM
2.5, would represent an average gain of €31 billion euros. This value is underestimated due to the limitations of the Pascal study (which are the same limitations of the present study, since both studies have considered the analysis of only three pollutants and use of the average concentration exposure for the population). Further, our study underestimated the impact and costs of chronic exposure to PM and ozone, since the variation of exposure within the city is very frequent, notably in relation to road traffic.
PM adverse health effects could be aggravated by exposure to another pollutant, which is a component of the photochemical air pollution mixture: ozone. Some epidemiologic research works have suggested significant outcomes to ozone exposure on human health [
38,
39,
40]. Some health effects of ozone can include lung epithelial damage and inflammatory response [
41,
42], including decreases in mucociliary clearance [
38]. All these effects can cause susceptibility to infections. In a European study, researchers have obtained an increase in risk between 0.33% and 1.13% on the total daily number of deaths, cardiovascular deaths and respiratory deaths, respectively, due to an increase of 10 µg/m
3 in the 1 h or 8 h ozone concentration exposure [
40]. In the present study, predictive scenarios regarding ozone concentration decrease can prevent more than 50 annual respiratory hospitalizations in the
15-years-or-older population. This number is underestimated, since we can have a higher level of a non-hospitalization care due to respiratory symptoms; and in this study we did not estimate the hospitalization of patients under 15 years old. Considering non-external mortality, even an ozone level decrease of 5 μg/m
3 could avoid almost 100 premature deaths and compliance with WHO standards could postpone more than 150 deaths annually in the adult population. All these results suggest the necessity of better public policies regarding air quality in large cities in Brazil.
Recently, a Brazilian study aimed to evaluate the economic impact of health events associated with current levels of air pollution in 8 cities that have air monitoring and 29 more cities without monitoring stations. The study concluded that Brazilian metropolitan regions have annually high economic losses, reaching almost US$ 3 billion, due to air pollution mortality [
13]. The present study shows the potential health and economic benefits for São Paulo through compliance with WHO guidelines, evidencing the amount of avoided adverse health effects (about 5000 deaths) and associated monetary gains (around US$ 15 billion). It is understood that this economic valuation represents an efficient basis for the formulation of air pollution mitigation policies, since valuing health effects is a way to create indicators to subsidize better decision-making by stakeholders. In the present study, we presented an overview not only about past mortality, but also about future scenarios of interventions aiming to reduce pollutant concentrations, such as investing in cleaner fuels and/or expanding the infrastructure of the subway system, among other options. In an era in which the importance of sustainable development and its impact on the environment and public health has gained more international recognition, this outcome has forced policymakers to tackle the problem of air pollution [
11].
As the main source of air pollution in major city centers is transportation, there is an urgent need to regulate pollutants from major sources such as transportation, industry and energy production in accordance with the most stringent standards. In this sense, the Brazilian government should aim to use all available resources to decrease air pollutant concentration in urban centers, as this means saving lives and increasing the quality of life of thousands of people; likewise, it means millions of dollars in gains to the Brazilian economy.
Curbing the negative health effects of air pollution pays dividends. This study shows a suggestive approach that gives decision makers across several Brazilian ministries a compelling reason to act. Avoiding adverse health effects saves money, and, more importantly, lives.
In this sense, Brazil should urgently adopt WHO air pollution standards in order to improve the quality of life of its population.