Tighter air quality standards in China could prevent 3 million premature deaths each year

New Delhi: Scientists suggest that China could save three million premature deaths each year if tighter air quality standards were enforced.

These precious lives could be saved by bringing China's PM10 level to the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard of 20 microgrammes per cubic metres, says a new study.

They said that this number is likely to be a lower estimate of the total number of deaths related to air pollution because the air pollution effect can be larger in rural areas and PM10 is more detrimental to human health in the long run.

The research led by Maigeng Zhou at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in Beijing predicted the short term effects of particulate air pollution on mortality in 38 of China's largest cities from January 1, 2010 to June 29, 2013.

Over the study period, the daily mean concentrations of PM10 (particle diameter less than 10 micrometre) across all locations was 92.9 microgrammes per cubic metres.

The most polluted city in the sample was Urumqi in Xinjiang Province, with an average daily mean PM10 concentration of 136.0 microgrammes per cubic metres.

The least polluted city was Qinhuangdao in Hebei Province, with an average daily mean PM10 concentration of 66.9 microgrammes per cubic metres.

During the period of the study, over 350,000 deaths were recorded and women were more vulnerable to air pollution related to the particles with a higher death rate than men.

Although PM10 mortality associations varied substantially across different cities, the researchers found a link between daily mortality and exposure to PM10 in 87 per cent of sampled cities.

On closer examination, they found that air pollution appeared to have a much greater impact on deaths due to cardiorespiratory diseases, such as asthma and chronic lung disease (COPD), than it did on deaths due to other causes.

They also found that the air pollution may primarily affect people aged 60 years or more.

This study involved modelled data which can make predictions about cause and effect, but cannot be used to draw firm causal conclusions.

The findings, study published in the BMJ, suggest that adopting and enforcing tighter air quality standards in China will bring about tremendous public health benefits.

(With PTI inputs)