scholarly journals Health Risk of Increased O3 Concentration Based on Regional Emission Characteristics under the Unusual State of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 335
Author(s):  
Yuki Okazaki ◽  
Lisa Ito ◽  
Akihiro Tokai

Photochemical oxidant concentration increases with the decrease in nitrogen oxide (NOx) concentration in volatile organic compound (VOC)-sensitive areas with several automobiles and factories. We aimed to quantify the changes in health risks from ozone (O3) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) using disability-adjusted life years (DALY) in Osaka City, which is one of the major cities in Japan. ADMER-PRO version 1.0, an atmospheric model for secondary products, was used to estimate the concentration distribution of NO2, VOC, and O3 using the year-on-year change of traffic during the declaration of the state of emergency in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (7 April to 21 May 2020). NO2 concentration decreased by an average of 0.962 ppb in 88.9% of the grids in Osaka City, whereas O3 concentration increased by an average of 1.00 ppb in all the grids with a 26–28% reduction of traffic volume due to the pandemic. We also found three intensities for the VOC-sensitive condition depending on the different regional emission characteristics, with the DALYs of health risks from the decrease in NO2 exceeding those from the increase in O3, reaching 811.4 and 55.90 total DALYs in the city, respectively.

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 446
Author(s):  
Akinori Fukunaga ◽  
Takaharu Sato ◽  
Kazuki Fujita ◽  
Daisuke Yamada ◽  
Shinya Ishida ◽  
...  

To clarify the relationship between changes in photochemical oxidants’ (Ox) concentrations and their precursors in Kawasaki, a series of analyses were conducted using data on Ox, their precursors, nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and meteorology that had been monitored throughout the city of Kawasaki for 30 years from 1990 to 2019. The trend in air temperature was upward, wind speed was downward, and solar radiation was upward, indicating an increasing trend in meteorological factors in which Ox concentrations tend to be higher. Between 1990 and 2013, the annual average Ox increased throughout Kawasaki and remained flat after that. The three-year moving average of the daily peak increased until 2015, and after that, it exhibited a slight decline. The amount of generated Ox is another important indicator. To evaluate this, a new indicator, the daytime production of photochemical oxidant (DPOx), was proposed. DPOx is defined by daytime averaged Ox concentrations less the previous day’s nighttime averaged Ox concentrations. The trend in DPOx from April to October has been decreasing since around 2006, and it was found that this indicator reflects the impact of reducing emissions of NOx and VOCs in Kawasaki.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. e0256758
Author(s):  
Sandra Milena Porras Cataño ◽  
Hugo Grisales-Romero

Objective Determine the loss of years of healthy life due to road incidents of motorcyclists in the city of Medellin from 2012 to 2015. Methods Descriptive study with data on health care of injured motorcyclists and deaths adjusted with the Preston and Coale method, and OPS proportional distribution for the period 2012–2015. The years of life lost due to premature death (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), and the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) were calculated according to the new methodology designed for that purpose. Results The loss of years of healthy life due to road incidents of motorcyclists in the four-year period was 80,046 DALYs (823.8 per 100,000 inhabitants), with a higher proportion in men (81.3% and a ratio of 5 to 1 compared to women); the YLDs was 66.6% with marked differences in favor of men. There was nearly a 38% difference in the ages of 15 to 19 as well as a 19% difference from 30 to 49, compared to women. Premature death (YLLs) contributed to 33.4% of DALYs, with significant presentation in the above-mentioned age groups. Conclusions The greatest loss of years of healthy life due to road incidents of motorcyclists in Medellin was due to non-fatal injuries and was concentrated in young men. If the trend of motorcycle road incidents continues, both local and national road safety plans will fail to accomplish the expected results, especially among motorcycle users.


2006 ◽  
Vol 53 (9) ◽  
pp. 247-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Aramaki ◽  
M. Galal ◽  
K. Hanaki

This paper aims to propose a methodological framework for quantifying the reduction and increase of health risks associated with urban wastewater systems. A risk assessment model was used to quantify reduction in disease burden while a life cycle assessment approach was used to quantify increasing risks by environmental loading. Disability adjusted life years (DALYs) was used to quantify health risks. This framework was applied to a hypothetical watershed to evaluate health risks by installation of wastewater treatment systems. In this hypothetical case, 55 DALYs per year of health risk would be reduced for 200,000 people in the downstream community by constructing wastewater systems for 200,000 people, while a range from 1.9 to 22 DALYs per year of health risks would be generated by materials and energy consumption for construction and operation of wastewater systems. However, this result would significantly change, depending on the parameters used in this analysis. The proposed methodology should be improved to obtain more precise results, but it will suggest useful information to discuss the overall effects due to the installation of various types of urban wastewater systems.


Author(s):  
Scott Burris ◽  
Micah L. Berman ◽  
Matthew Penn, and ◽  
Tara Ramanathan Holiday

Chapter 5 discusses the use of epidemiology to identify the source of public health problems and inform policymaking. It uses a case study to illustrate how researchers, policymakers, and practitioners detect diseases, identify their sources, determine the extent of an outbreak, and prevent new infections. The chapter also defines key measures in epidemiology that can indicate public health priorities, including morbidity and mortality, years of potential life lost, and measures of lifetime impacts, including disability-adjusted life years and quality-adjusted life years. Finally, the chapter reviews epidemiological study designs, differentiating between experimental and observational studies, to show how to interpret data and identify limitations.


Author(s):  
Susan M. Sawyer ◽  
George C. Patton

This chapter describes how the profile of physical and mental health and well-being changes across adolescence. The biological context of healthy adolescent growth and development is reviewed, including secular patterns of puberty and brain maturation. The structural and social determinants of adolescent health are then described. Adolescent health outcomes, including patterns of risk behaviors, emerge from the interaction between biological influences and social health determinants. Estimates of mortality and disability-adjusted life years are used to describe three patterns of adolescent health and well-being that vary by age, sex, and national wealth. Globally, the burden of disease increases across adolescence, varying markedly between and within countries. Comprehensive, multisectoral, evidence-informed actions are required that match these conspicuous adolescent health problems, emerging health risks, and major social determinants. Such actions, including quality education and health services, differ greatly from those that benefit younger children yet have similarly high benefit–cost ratios.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
L Mughini Gras

Abstract In the Netherlands, the Ministry of Health mandates the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) to provide annual updates of the number of illnesses, disease burden and cost-of-illness caused by an agreed-upon standard panel of 14 enteric pathogens. These pathogens are mainly transmitted by food, but also via direct contact with animals, environment-mediated and human-to-human transmission routes. The disease burden is expressed in DALYs (Disability Adjusted Life Years), a metric integrating morbidity and mortality into one unit. Furthermore, the cost-of-illness (COI) related to these 14 pathogens is estimated and expressed in euros. The COI estimates include healthcare costs, the costs for the patient and/or his family, such as travel expenses, as well as costs in other sectors, for example due to productivity losses. Moreover, using different approaches to source attribution, the estimated DALYs and associated COI estimates are attributed to five major transmission pathways (i.e. food, environment, direct animal contact, human-human transmission, and travel) and 11 food groups within the foodborne pathway itself. The most recent DALY and COI estimates referring to the year 2018 show that the 14 pathogens in question are cumulatively responsible for about 11,000 DALYs and €426 million costs for the Dutch population in 2018, with a share for foodborne transmission being estimated at 4,300 DALYs and €171 million costs, which is comparable to previous years. These estimates have been providing vital insights for policy making as to guide public health interventions and resource allocation for over two decades in the Netherlands. Herewith, the approach and outcomes of the burden of disease and COI estimates in the Netherlands will be presented, with a focus on how these estimates enable policy-makers and the scientific community to monitor trends, generate scientific hypotheses, and undertake public health actions.


Biomedicines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 111
Author(s):  
Aida Muntsant ◽  
Francesc Jiménez-Altayó ◽  
Lidia Puertas-Umbert ◽  
Elena Jiménez-Xarrie ◽  
Elisabet Vila ◽  
...  

Life expectancy decreases with aging, with cardiovascular, mental health, and neurodegenerative disorders strongly contributing to the total disability-adjusted life years. Interestingly, the morbidity/mortality paradox points to females having a worse healthy life expectancy. Since bidirectional interactions between cardiovascular and Alzheimer’s diseases (AD) have been reported, the study of this emerging field is promising. In the present work, we further explored the cardiovascular–brain interactions in mice survivors of two cohorts of non-transgenic and 3xTg-AD mice, including both sexes, to investigate the frailty/survival through their life span. Survival, monitored from birth, showed exceptionally worse mortality rates in females than males, independently of the genotype. This mortality selection provided a “survivors” cohort that could unveil brain–cardiovascular interaction mechanisms relevant for normal and neurodegenerative aging processes restricted to long-lived animals. The results show sex-dependent distinct physical (worse in 3xTg-AD males), neuropsychiatric-like and cognitive phenotypes (worse in 3xTg-AD females), and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis activation (higher in females), with higher cerebral blood flow and improved cardiovascular phenotype in 3xTg-AD female mice survivors. The present study provides an experimental scenario to study the suggested potential compensatory hemodynamic mechanisms in end-of-life dementia, which is sex-dependent and can be a target for pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions.


Author(s):  
Rajesh Sharma

Abstract Background This study presents an up-to-date, comprehensive and comparative examination of breast cancer’s temporal patterns in females in Asia in last three decades. Methods The estimates of incidence, mortality, disability-adjusted-life-years and risk factors of breast cancer in females in 49 Asian countries were retrieved from Global Burden of Disease 2019 study. Results In Asia, female breast cancer incidence grew from 245 045[226 259–265 260] in 1990 to 914 878[815 789–1025 502] in 2019 with age-standardized incidence rate rising from 21.2/100 000[19.6–22.9] to 35.9/100 000[32.0–40.2] between 1990 and 2019. The death counts more than doubled from 136 665[126 094–148 380] to 337 822[301 454–375 251]. The age-standardized mortality rate rose marginally between 1990 and 2019 (1990: 12.1[11.0–13.1]; 2019: 13.4[12.0–14.9]). In 2019, age-standardized incidence rate varied from 17.2/100 000[13.95–21.4] in Mongolia to 122.5[92.1–160.7] in Lebanon and the age-standardized mortality rate varied 4-fold from 8.0/100 000 [7.2–8.8] in South Korea to 51.9[39.0–69.8] in Pakistan. High body mass index (5.6%), high fasting plasma glucose (5.6%) and secondhand smoke (3.5%) were the main contributory risk factors to all-age disability-adjusted-life-years due to breast cancer in Asia. Conclusion With growing incidence, escalating dietary and behavioural risk factors and lower survival rates due to late-disease presentation in low- and medium-income countries of Asia, breast cancer has become a significant public health threat. Its rising burden calls for increasing breast cancer awareness, preventive measures, early-stage detection and cost-effective therapeutics in Asia.


2020 ◽  
pp. 095646242095298
Author(s):  
Augusto Cesar Lara de Sousa ◽  
Tatiana de Araujo Eleuterio ◽  
José Victor Afonso Coutinho ◽  
Raphael Mendonça Guimarães

To describe the trends of HIV/AIDS metrics related to the burden of disease for Brazil between 1990 and 2017 we conducted a timeseries analysis for HIV/AIDS indicators by extracting data from the Global Burden of Disease study. We calculated traditional prevalence, incidence and mortality rates, the number of years lost by HIV-related deaths (YLL) and disability (YLD), and disability-adjusted life years (DALY). We estimated time series models and assessed the impact of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) on the same indicators. In the set of disability-adjusted life years (DALY), the highest weight of its magnitude was due to YLL. There was a decline, especially after 1996, of DALY, mortality and YLL for HIV/AIDS. However, YLD, incidence, and prevalence increased over the same period. Also, the analysis of interrupted time series showed that the introduction of HAART into health policy had a significant impact on indicators, especially for DALY and YLL. We need to assess the quality of life of people living with HIV, especially among older adults. In addition, we need to focus on primary prevention, emphasizing methods to avoid infection and public policies should reflect this.


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