Short-term health effects of air pollution on mortality

Introduction. - Since the 1990's, many epidemiological and toxicological studies have addressed the effect of current ambient levels of air pollution on mortality. Knowledge. - Several epidemiological studies found a short-term association between all cause, cardiovascular and respiratory mortality, and various air pollutants. These results were notably established in French, European and American multicentre studies as well as in meta-analysis. Furthermore, some studies have identified populations that are more vulnerable to the effects of air pollutants. Children, the elderly, patients with chronic diseases and people with lower socioeconomic status have been found to be more susceptible to air pollution. Perspectives. - More research on the patho-physiological mechanisms of the effects of air pollutants needs to be carried out, especially to investigate the role of nitrogen dioxide. In addition, studies on the health effects of the elemental components of particulate matter should be extended in the future. Finally, a better characterization of the most vulnerable populations as well as the causes of this susceptibility would be of great interest. Conclusion. - The coherence observed among the results of epidemiological studies and the knowledge provided by toxicological and experimental studies are in favour of causality of the short-term links observed between air pollution and mortality. (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.