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Burden of disease caused by local transport in Warsaw, Poland.


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Abstract

Transport is a major source of air pollution, noise, injuries and physical activity in the urban environment. The quantification of the health risks and benefits arising from these factors would provide useful information for the planning of cost-effective mitigation actions. In this study we quantified the burden of disease caused by local transport in the city of Warsaw, Poland. The disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) were estimated for transport related air pollution (particulate matter (PM), nitrogen oxides (NO x ), sulfur dioxide (SO2), benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), cadmium, lead and nickel), noise, injuries and physical activity. Exposure to these factors was based on local and international data, and the exposure-response functions (ERFs) were based on published reviews and recommendations. The uncertainties were quantified and propagated with the Monte Carlo method. Local transport generated air pollution, noise and injuries were estimated to cause approximately 58,000 DALYs in the study area. From this burden 44% was due to air pollution and 46% due to noise. Transport related physical activity was estimated to cause a health benefit of 17,000 DALYs. Main quantified uncertainties were related to disability weight for the annoyance (due to noise) and to the ERFs for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution and walking. The results indicate that the health burden of transport could be mitigated by reducing motorized transport, which causes air pollution and noise, and by encouraging walking and cycling in the study area.

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Keywords

Air pollution, DALY, Injury, Noise, Physical activity, Transport

Journal Title

J Transp Health

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2214-1405
2214-1413

Volume Title

2

Publisher

Elsevier BV
Sponsorship
Medical Research Council (MR/K021796/1)
Economic and Social Research Council (ES/G007462/1)
Medical Research Council (MR/K023187/1)
Wellcome Trust (087636/Z/08/Z)
The project has been funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Poland, through the Iuventus Plus project number IP2011 055871. The work was undertaken under the auspices of the Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR), a UKCRC Public Health Research Centre of Excellence which is funded by the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research, and the Wellcome Trust.