Rapid increase in mortality attributable to PM 2.5 exposure in India over 1998-2015. - GreenMedInfo Summary

PM-attributable deaths and years of life lost (YLL) due to specific causes during 1998-2015 in India were estimated using the integrated exposure-response (IER) model. The estimated PM-mortality in India revealed an annual increasing rate of 2.7% during the study period. Spatially, deaths due to the exposure to ambient PMconcentrated mostly in populated North India, and four northern states contributed 43% to the national PM-attributable deaths in 2015. PM-attributable deaths in India increased by 21% during 1998-2015 due to the changes of PMonly, and deaths due to lung cancer (LC) revealed the largest sensitivity to increasing ambient PM. The findings of this study suggest that aggressive air pollution control strategies should be implemented in North India due to their dominant contributions to the current health risks. Moreover, the rapid growth of LC related deaths with increasing ambient PMshould not be neglected.