Low-level pollution - health impacts: evidence review

1 Background

The scope of the work commissioned under this specific request arises from the Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 (CAFS2) Strategy. One of the actions from the CAFS2 Strategy is to assess the evidence on health impacts of low-level air pollution in countries with levels of ambient concentrations comparable to Scotland. An earlier review by the CAFS2 Health Working Group identified an absence of evidence of association with cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Scottish studies. Part of the remit of this review is therefore to understand reasons for this apparent difference between health effects identified in Scottish studies and those in countries with levels of ambient air pollution comparable to Scotland. To review and assess the evidence of health impacts in such countries, a robust, rapid semi-systematic literature review was undertaken. This review aims to collate and discuss the evidence on:

• The health impacts of air pollution at low levels comparable to Scotland
• Reasons for an absence of association between air pollution and cardiovascular disease in Scottish studies.