Exposure‐Response Functions for Health Effects of Air Pollutants Based on Epidemiological Findings

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Abstract
Quantitative knowledge about health damage due to air pollution is an important element in analyses of cost‐effective abatement strategies, and is also essential for setting Air Quality Standards. Epidemiological studies, in spite of the numerous problems connected to them, provide a reasonable basis for exposure‐response functions in this context. On the basis of a literature review, exposure‐response functions that relate ambient air pollutant concentrations to the frequency of various health effects are recommended in this paper. The following end‐points were examined: Acute and chronic respiratory symptoms in children and adults, crude mortality, and lung cancer incidence. The effects are attributed to one indicator component, which in most cases is particles. A calculation procedure is suggested which makes it possible to estimate excess annual symptom‐days for short‐term effects using the annual average concentration.