FREE NEJM E-TOC    HOME   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   CURRENT ISSUE   |   PAST ISSUES   |   COLLECTIONS   |   Search Term  Advanced Search

Sign in | Get NEJM's E-Mail Table of Contents — Free | Subscribe

Previous Volume 360:376-386 January 22, 2009 Number 4 Next

	Full Text PDF PDA Full Text PowerPoint Slide Set Interactive Graphic Editorial by Krewski, D. Letters Add to Personal Archive Add to Citation Manager Notify a Friend E-mail When Cited E-mail When Letters Appear PubMed Citation

ABSTRACT

Background Exposure to fine-particulate air pollution has been associated with increased morbidity and mortality, suggesting that sustained reductions in pollution exposure should result in improved life expectancy. This study directly evaluated the changes in life expectancy associated with differential changes in fine particulate air pollution that occurred in the United States during the 1980s and 1990s.

Methods We compiled data on life expectancy, socioeconomic status, and demographic characteristics for 211 county units in the 51 U.S. metropolitan areas with matching data on fine-particulate air pollution for the late 1970s and early 1980s and the late 1990s and early 2000s. Regression models were used to estimate the association between reductions in pollution and changes in life expectancy, with adjustment for changes in socioeconomic and demographic variables and in proxy indicators for the prevalence of cigarette smoking.

Results A decrease of 10 µg per cubic meter in the concentration of fine particulate matter was associated with an estimated increase in mean (±SE) life expectancy of 0.61±0.20 year (P=0.004). The estimated effect of reduced exposure to pollution on life expectancy was not highly sensitive to adjustment for changes in socioeconomic, demographic, or proxy variables for the prevalence of smoking or to the restriction of observations to relatively large counties. Reductions in air pollution accounted for as much as 15% of the overall increase in life expectancy in the study areas.

Conclusions A reduction in exposure to ambient fine-particulate air pollution contributed to significant and measurable improvements in life expectancy in the United States.

Source Information

From the Department of Economics, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT (C.A.P.); the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston (M.E., D.W.D.); and the Harvard Initiative for Global Health, Cambridge, MA (M.E.).

Address reprint requests to Dr. Pope at 142 FOB, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602-2363, or at cap3{at}byu.edu.

Full Text of this Article

Related Letters:

Air Pollution and Life Expectancy
Bubb M. R., Lipfert F. W., Pope C. A. III, Ezzati M., Dockery D. W.
Extract | Full Text | PDF  
N Engl J Med 2009; 360:2032-2034, May 7, 2009. Correspondence

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Fullerton, D G, Semple, S, Kalambo, F, Suseno, A, Malamba, R, Henderson, G, Ayres, J G, Gordon, S B (2009). Biomass fuel use and indoor air pollution in homes in Malawi. Occup. Environ. Med. 66: 777-783 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Parrish, D. D., Zhu, T. (2009). Clean Air for Megacities. Science 326: 674-675 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Peters, A. (2009). Air Quality and Cardiovascular Health: Smoke and Pollution Matter. Circulation 120: 924-927 [Full Text]  
• Gordon, S., Rylance, J. (2009). Where there's smoke... there's tuberculosis. Thorax 64: 649-650 [Full Text]  
• Bubb, M. R., Lipfert, F. W., Pope, C. A. III, Ezzati, M., Dockery, D. W. (2009). Air Pollution and Life Expectancy. NEJM 360: 2032-2034 [Full Text]  
• (2009). All you need to read in the other general journals. BMJ 338: b303-b303 [Full Text]  
• Krewski, D. (2009). Evaluating the Effects of Ambient Air Pollution on Life Expectancy. NEJM 360: 413-415 [Full Text]