Network Updates / Worldwide / 2024-07-29

Health Risk Assessment of air pollution using WHO’s AirQ and AirQ+ tools:
Lessons from the last 20 years - Study published in Public Health Reviews

Estimates of the impacts of air pollution are often carried out through Health Risk Assessment methods (HRA), based on evidence from epidemiological studies, quantifying exposure level (i.e. the concentration of air pollutant) and risk of a certain health outcome.

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Health Risk Assessment of Air Pollution using AirQ+

Health Risk Assessment (HRA) methods typically use specific evidence from epidemiological studies. Health Risk Assessment of Air Pollution using AirQ+ quantifies exposure levels (i.e., the concentration of air pollutants) and the risk of specific health outcomes associated with air pollution exposure.

Tools for health risk exposure

Several tools are available for estimating the risk of exposure. Decision-makers, experts and advocates can analyse scenarios based on clearly defined and reliably assessed multiple outcomes for health, environmental and economic development.

20 years of AirQ+

Using AirQ+ for Health Risk Assessment of air pollution stands out for its user-friendly interface and many committed users worldwide. The tool dates to 1999, developed by WHO/Europe. Developers initially created the AirQ software as a spreadsheet. Many reports and scientific papers have used AirQ and AirQ+. After 20 years, it is timely to assess their use.

In June 2024, after twenty years of work and a two-year compilation, Two Decades of Air Pollution Health Risks Assessment: Insights From the Use of WHO’s AirQ and AirQ+ Tools was published in the journal Public Health Reviews on the analysis of the use of AirQ and AirQ+.

The analysis evaluated 286 studies conducted in 69 countries between 2002 and 2022. The study used WHO AirQ and AirQ+ tools for air pollution health risk assessment and provided best practice suggestions for future evaluations.

Vital insights on the use of AirQ+

Heresh Amini, greatly contributed to Health Risk Assessment of air pollutionHeresh Amini (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai), the lead author of the paper, mobilized 28 co-authors to provide a paper that represents added valuable information for those interested in health risk assessment of air pollution from different angles: applications, teaching, training, and political discussions.

The results point out the capacity of many studies to adequately report air pollution exposure data, population size, and health outcomes of interest. The tool also allows the reporting of baseline disease incidence, concentration-response functions, relative risk values, and counterfactual values. The authors suggest “better practices and urge future studies to focus on the quality of input data, its reporting, and associated uncertainties.”

In Memoriam: Haresh Amini

On a sombre note, Heresh Amini passed away in July 2024.

On June 28, 1987, during the Iraq-Iran war, Iraqi forces bombed the city of Sardasht with mustard gas. The infamous gas was used for the first time during the First World War by the Germans and the British, followed by the Italians in Ethiopia in 1935-1936.

The use of sulfur mustard against the civilian population of Sardasht resulted in the killing of hundreds of civilians and injuring thousands more. Heresh lost his father in that attack and was exposed to this carcinogenic substance.

His work remains an essential reference to the air pollution and epidemiology community, and his last paper is one of many high-quality scientific contributions he made in his short but intense career.

Funds from the BMUB (Germany) and the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Korea made this work possible.


Learn more about Air Q+

What is Air Q+?

AirQ+ is a software tool for quantifying air pollution’s health burden and impact.

How does AirQ+ work?

  • Use AirQ+ to evaluate air quality outcomes, health policies, interventions, or multi-sector policy scenarios.
  • AirQ+ includes methodologies to assess the impacts of short- and long-term exposure to ambient air pollution.
  • It uses epidemiological cohort studies showing a relationship between average long-term air pollution concentration levels.
  • Estimates mortality risks in exposed populations.

Who is AirQ+ for?

Consult an epidemiologist or air pollution impact assessment expert. AirQ+ comes with manuals requiring increasing levels of expertise to facilitate users’ analyses.

What languages is AirQ+ available in?

AirQ+ is available in English, French, German, Russian and Spanish. Since 2016, more than 1000 users from 112 countries have downloaded the software. It has been used in over 300 cities.