This Wednesday, April 14, 2021, Public Health France is publishing a new assessment of the impact of ambient air pollution (PA) on mortality in mainland France in the context of the spring 2020 containment.
Public Health France carried out a study to find out the impact of the reduction in air pollution during confinement on mortality and put this impact in the long term for the period 2016-2019 in order to update the estimates it produced in 2016, i.e. the 48,000 premature deaths linked to fine particles.
To do this, she studied the short and long-term impacts on mortality in metropolitan France of the reduction in activities in spring 2020 and as a consequence of the decrease in air pollution by nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particles. fine (PM2.5 and PM10).
Results
The study concludes that the drops in the pollution level during the spring 2020 containment had benefits ” significant and immediate for health ».
The decrease in air pollution during confinement results in:
- 2,274 deaths avoided thanks to the drop in PM2.5
- 893 deaths avoided thanks to the reduction in NO2
Regarding the number of premature deaths per year in France attributable to PM2.5 exposure, in a broader and long-term perspective (2016-2019), Public Health France reassesses the number at 40,000, or 7% of the total mortality of the French population. For NO2, this represents 7,000 deaths, or 1% of the total annual mortality.
Nevertheless, despite this drop, Public Health France recalls that air pollution ” remains a significant risk factor in France and that efforts to reduce ambient air pollution must be pursued sustainably on all sources of pollution ».
Atmo France and the Approved Air Quality Monitoring Associations (AASQA) are partners in this study as suppliers of official air quality monitoring data.
> Find the full results on the Public Health France website
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