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Global Health
March 16, 2021

Saving Tens of Thousands of Lives by Cutting Air Pollution

JAMA. 2021;325(11):1031. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.2292

Reducing particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide pollution in nearly 1000 European cities to the World Health Organization (WHO) target levels could save about 50 000 lives a year, a multinational team of investigators reported.

Using 2015 data on air pollution and deaths in those cities, the investigators estimated the health impact of lowering levels of particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 µm or smaller (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) to meet the targets in the WHO’s air quality guidelines. The guidelines recommend no more than an annual mean of 10 μg/m3 for PM2.5 and 40 μg/m3 for NO2.

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