Benefits of Short-term Premature Mortality Reduction Attributed to PM_2.5 Pollution: A Case Study in Long an Province,...

PM_2.5 pollution exposure is the leading cause of disease burden globally, especially in low- and middle-income countries, including Vietnam. Therefore, economic damage in this context must be quantified. Long An province in the Southern Key Economic (SKE) region was selected as a research area. This study aimed to evaluate PM_2.5-related human health effects causing early deaths attributable to respiratory, cardiovascular, and circulatory diseases in all ages and genders. Health end-points and health impact estimation, economic loss model, groups of PM_2.5 concentration data, data of exposed population, data of baseline premature mortality rate, and data of health impact functions were used. Hourly PM_2.5 concentration data sets were generated specifically using the coupled Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF)/Community Multiscale Air Quality Modelling System (CMAQ) models. Daily PM_2.5 pollution levels considered mainly in the dry season (from January to April 2018) resulted in 12.9 (95% CI - 0.6; 18.7) all-cause premature deaths per 100,000 population, of which 7.8 (95% CI 1.1; 7.1), 1.5 (95% CI - 0.2; 3.1), and 3.6 (95% CI - 1.5; 8.5) were due to respiratory diseases (RDs; 60.54%), cardiovascular diseases (CVDs; 11.81%), and circulatory system diseases (CSDs; 27.65%) per 100,000 population, respectively. The total economic losses due to acute PM_2.5 exposure-related premature mortality cases reached 62.0 (95% CI - 2.7; 89.6) billion VND, equivalent to 8.3 (95% CI - 0.4; 12.0) million USD. The study outcomes contributed remarkably to the generation and development of data sources for effectively managing ambient air quality in Long An.