AUTHOR=Orellano Pablo , Kasdagli Maria-Iosifina , Pérez Velasco Román , Samoli Evangelia 

TITLE=Long-Term Exposure to Particulate Matter and Mortality: An Update of the WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

JOURNAL=International Journal of Public Health

VOLUME=69

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.ssph-journal.org/journals/international-journal-of-public-health/articles/10.3389/ijph.2024.1607683

DOI=10.3389/ijph.2024.1607683

ISSN=1661-8564

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Objectives</title><p>For the development of the 2021 global air quality guidelines, the World Health Organization (WHO) commissioned a series of systematic reviews and meta-analyses to assess the association between exposure to air pollution and all-cause and cause-specific mortality. One of these reviews, which we aim to update, focused on the effects of long-term exposure to PM<sub>2.5</sub> and PM<sub>10</sub> on all-cause and cause-specific mortality.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>The protocol for this study was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42023425327). We searched the PubMed and Embase databases for studies published between September 2018 and May 2023. Study-specific effects were pooled using random-effects models.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>We included 106 studies in the meta-analysis, 46 studies from the previous review and 60 from this update. All exposure-outcome pairs analysed showed positive and significant associations, except for PM<sub>10</sub> and cerebrovascular mortality. The certainty of the evidence was rated as high for the majority of exposure-outcome pairs.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>We included a large number of new cohorts, and provided new concentration-response functions that will inform WHO advice on the use of this information for air pollution health risk assessments.</p></sec>