Air pollution and mortality: the statistical connection

The article reports on studies that show a significant association between specific air pollutants and death rates across a large number of U. S. metropolitan areas. The findings are based on carefully controlled statistical analyses and tested to determine if the estimated relation between air pollution and mortality was spurious. Based on a decade of research, the conclusion is that a significant reduction in death rates can be accomplished through substantial abatement of air pollution, particularly from stationary sources such as factories. It is less clear that the same level of abatement effort directed at mobile sources (principally automobiles) would result in a comparable reduction, for the association between emissions from mobile sources and mortality is not as strong as that for stationary sources.