International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health 214 (2011) 281–295
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
International Journal of Hygiene and
Environmental Health
j o ur nal homepage: www.elsevier.de/ijheh
Review
Particulate matter pollution in the megacities of the Pearl River Delta, China – A
systematic literature review and health risk assessment
Heiko J. Jahn
a,∗
, Alexandra Schneider
b
, Susanne Breitner
b
, Romy Eißner
a
, Manfred Wendisch
c
,
Alexander Krämer
a
a
Department of Public Health Medicine, School of Public Health, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
b
Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Institute of Epidemiology, Neuherberg, Germany
c
Leipzig Institute for Meteorology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 2 December 2010
Received in revised form 4 May 2011
Accepted 17 May 2011
Keywords:
Megacities
Particulate matter
Health impact assessment
Pearl River Delta
China
Systematic review
a b s t r a c t
The exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) pollution is a major threat to public health. Chinese
megacities are coined by high levels of PM. Our aims were to examine the concentration levels of PM
in megacities (Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Shenzhen) of the Pearl River Delta (PRD), South China; to
compare the results with international and national air quality guidelines; and to assess the health impact
in terms of possible reductions in premature deaths due to PM reduction. The Medline
®
data base was
used to identify published studies (systematic literature search). Based on our appraisal criteria 13 studies
remained in the analysis. Additionally, publicly available data were extracted from data sources provided
by municipal authorities of the cities under study. PM data reported in g/m
3
were abstracted from
single studies and municipal reports. If possible, the PM data were stratified for season of data collection
(summer/winter half-year) and simple means were calculated for cities, seasons and months. Based on
the abstracted data, a health impact assessment (HIA) was done in order to estimate potential preventable
premature deaths due to PM pollution in the cities. Almost all PM data exceeded national and international
air quality guidelines. Our HIA showed that in Guangzhou ten thousands of premature deaths could be
prevented if the PM burden was reduced to these air quality limit values. We identified no suitable
epidemiological study reporting PM according to our study protocol. Further epidemiological studies
should be carried out to more precisely determine the spatial distribution of PM-related health risks in
PRD. Environmental protection measures and public health interventions are required to reduce burden
of PM-related diseases in PRD.
© 2011 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Air quality guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
PM and health effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Health impact assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Aims of this work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Search strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
PM data collection and analysis – individual review-studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
PM data collection and analysis – governmental reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
Mortality data collection – governmental statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
Health impact assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
∗
Corresponding author at: Bielefeld University, School of Public Health, Department of Public Health Medicine, P.O. Box: 100 131, Bielefeld 33501,
North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Tel.: +49 0521 106 3879; fax: +49 0521 106 2968.
E-mail address: heiko.jahn@uni-bielefeld.de (H.J. Jahn).
1438-4639/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijheh.2011.05.008