Health impact of urban air pollution in Belgium

Abstract

Health impact assessment (HIA) of air pollution was performed in three Belgian cities using APHEIS methodology, in the framework of the Belgian NEHAP. The urban agglomerations of Liege, Antwerp, and Brussels were chosen, totalling together two million inhabitants. HIA was calculated using either measured or interpolated populated weighted air data. We estimated the annual number of deaths in 2004 attributed to acute, subacute, and chronic exposure to PM10 above 20 mu g/m(3), the PM10 target value defined in the EU directive (1999/30/EC). For the three cities combined, 5.5% of the mortality is attributable to PM10 concentrations higher than the reference level. The differences between the three cities were not significant. The impact of ozone (reference, above 120 mu g/m(3)) was limited.