PM2.5 EXPOSURE: FUELING CHRONIC DISEASE BURDEN AND SURGING URBAN HEALTHCARE COSTS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53555/env.v1i3.2578Keywords:
PM2.5, urban air pollution, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, healthcare expenditure, economic burden, DALYs, systematic reviewAbstract
Urban exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is a major environmental health concern with consequences that extend from chronic disease and premature mortality to healthcare utilization and economic productivity. This systematic review synthesizes peer-reviewed evidence reported in the source manuscript for 2010–2025, with emphasis on urban exposure, chronic disease, population-attributable burden, DALYs, healthcare expenditure and economic losses. The manuscript reports searches of PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science and prioritizes longitudinal cohorts, meta-analyses and health-economic models, integrating Global Burden of Disease estimates with satellite and ground-based observations. Reported concentration–response estimates include cardiovascular relative risks of 1.12–1.20 and respiratory relative risks of 1.10–1.18 per 10 µg/m³ increase in PM2.5. Major urban sources described include vehicular emissions, industrial activities, construction and road dust, biomass burning and secondary aerosol formation. Reported exposure examples include an annual mean of approximately 101 µg/m³ for Delhi, 25 µg/m³ for Puducherry and a monthly value of 123 µg/m³ for Dharuhera in 2025. The manuscript further reports substantial health and economic burdens in India and globally and describes a Shanghai case in which reported PM2.5 control costs were 0.76% of GDP compared with reported gains of about 1.01% of GDP. Overall, the evidence summarized supports integrated emission-control strategies, high-resolution exposure assessment and health-economic evaluation. Because the source manuscript does not provide complete database search strings, search dates, screening counts, exclusion reasons or a formal risk-of-bias procedure, these methodological details are explicitly identified rather than fabricated in this final draft.
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