Short-term Health Effects of Fine and Ultra-fine Particle Pollution in Beijing, China

• Applicant: Dr. Ulrich Franck
• Subject Area: Public Health, Healthcare Research, Social and Occupational Medicine
• Term: from 2005 to 2009
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5429694

• Final Report Year: 2009

Final Report Abstract

In summary, our results suggest that particle number concentrations are associated with cardio-respiratory mortality in Beijing, China. The findings further suggest that UFP may be of special importance for human health. At present, administrative air quality measurements of national networks, not only in China, measure only particle mass, such as PMio or PM2.5. In the future, regular air pollution measurement systems should be extended by measurements of particle number concentrations. Overall, the project improved the bilateral co-operation between the German and Chinese partners. The co-operation included the planning and performance of data sampling as well as the data analysis, and provision of training opportunities to the Chinese partners. The project further strengthened the scientific co-operation between the partner institutes in the field of the health risks of urban aerosol, emphasizing different size fractions of ultra-fine particles resulting in the new project "Health impact of improved air quality during the Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing, China" also funded by DFG.

Publications

• (2008): Short-term health effects of particulate air pollution in Beijing, China. Epidemiology 19(6): S153 Suppl.
  Breitner S, Cyrys J, Brüske-Hohlfeld I, Franck U, Schlink U, Leitte A, Herbarth O, Wiedensohler A, Wehner B, Zhu T, Hu M, Pan X, Wichmann H, Peters A
  
• 2009. Short-term effects of submicron particulate air pollution on respiratory mortality in Beijing, china. Proceedings of 7th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, Istanbul, 24-27 March 2009
  Leitte AM, Schlink U, Wehner B, Tuch T, Wiedensohler A, Breitner S, Brüske-Hohlfeld I, Peters A, Zhu T, Hu M, Pan XC, Franck U
  
• 2009. The association between fine particulate air pollution and hospital emergency room visits for cardiovascular diseases in Beijing. China. Sci Total Environ 407(17):4826-30
  Guo Y, Jia Y, Pan X, Liu L, Wichmann HE