Comparative Analysis of Different Air Pollutants on the Health of Asian Population by Application of AIRQ+ Tool

Abstract

This study presents a comparative analysis of air pollutant–attributed health risks across 15 urban centers in India, China, and Japan using the WHO’s AirQ+ model (V2.2.3). Four major pollutants PM_2.5, PM₁₀, NO₂, and O₃ were assessed for their contribution to natural mortality, lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, postneonatal infant mortality, and respiratory-related deaths. Using city-level annual mean concentration data from 2022 and a modified demographic cohort (adults aged 18+), the study estimated attributable proportion (AP%), relative risk (RR), and number of excess cases (NE) per pollutant–health endpoint pair. Patna, India, exhibited the highest AP for PM_2.5-related natural mortality (77.49%) and lung cancer. Suqian, China, showed similarly high APs for PM_2.5 and PM₁₀, while Shizuoka, Japan, recorded the highest PM₁₀-related chronic bronchitis and infant mortality within its cohort. Mumbai, India, recorded the highest NO₂-attributed AP for bronchitis in asthmatic children (AP: 16.7%). Xian, China, had the highest AP (up to 13.2%) for respiratory mortality due to O₃ exposure. Episodic events such as dust storms and agricultural burning were found to elevate annual PM concentrations by 10%–30%, influencing the overall AP calculations. Statistically, PM_2.5-related AP correlated strongly with urban industrialization and seasonal pollution peaks. The study further integrated spatial variance, adjusting for meteorological and topographic influences across cities. By incorporating nondefault age groups (18+), high-resolution monitoring data, and city-specific exposure sources, the research offers a granular and regionally differentiated health impact profile of air pollution across Asia.