Health impacts of air pollution exposure from 1990 to 2019 in 43 European countries

Air pollution is the fourth greatest overall risk factor for human health. Despite declining levels in Europe, air pollution still represents a major health and economic burden. We collected data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 regarding overall, as well as ischemic heart disease (IHD), stroke, and tracheal, bronchus and lung cancer-specific disability adjusted life years (DALYs), years of life lost (YLL) and mortality attributable to air pollution for 43 European countries between 1990 and 2019. Concentrations of ambient particulate matter (aPM_2.5), ozone, and household air pollution from solid fuels were obtained from State of Global Air 2020. We analysed changes in air pollution parameters, as well as DALYs, YLL, and mortality related to air pollution, also taking into account gross national income (GNI) and socio-demographic index (SDI). Using a novel calculation, aPM_2.5 ratio (PMR) change and DALY rate ratio (DARR) change were used to assess each country's ability to decrease its aPM_2.5 pollution and DALYs to at least the extent of the European median decrease within the analysed period. Finally, we created a multiple regression model for reliably predicting YLL using aPM_2.5 and household air pollution. The average annual population-weighted aPM_2.5 exposure in Europe in 1990 was 20.8 μg/m³ (95% confidence interval (CI) 18.3-23.2), while in 2019 it was 33.7% lower at 13.8 μg/m³ (95% CI 12.0-15.6). There were in total 368 006 estimated deaths in Europe in 2019 attributable to air pollution, a 42.4% decrease compared to 639 052 in 1990. The majority (90.4%) of all deaths were associated with aPM_2.5. IHD was the primary cause of death making up 44.6% of all deaths attributable to air pollution. The age-standardised DALY rate and YLL rate attributable to air pollution were more than 60% lower in 2019 compared to 1990. There was a strong positive correlation (r = 0.911) between YLL rate and aPM_2.5 pollution in 2019 in Europe. Our multiple regression model predicts that for 10% increase in aPM_2.5, YLL increases by 16.7%. Furthermore, 26 of 43 European countries had a positive DARR change. 31 of 43 European countries had a negative PMR change, thus not keeping up with the European median aPM_2.5 concentration decrease. When categorising countries by SDI and GNI, countries in the higher brackets had significantly lower aPM_2.5 concentration and DALY rate for IHD and stroke. Overall, air pollution levels, air pollution-related morbidity and mortality have decreased considerably in Europe in the last three decades. However, with the growing European population, air pollution remains an important public health and economic issue. Policies targeting air pollution reduction should continue to be strongly enforced to further reduce one of the greatest risk factors for human health.