Objective: To investigate the potential impact of ambient air pollution on public health under various traffic policies in Shanghai.
Methods: The exposure level of Shanghai residents to air pollution under various planned traffic scenarios was estimated, and the public health impact was assessed using concentration-response functions derived from available epidemiological studies.
Results: Our results showed that ambient air pollution in relation to traffic scenarios had a significant impact on the future health status of Shanghai residents. Compared with the base case scenario, implementation of various traffic scenarios could prevent 759-1574, 1885-2420, and 2277-2650 PM10-related avoidable deaths (mean-value) in 2010, 2015, and 2020, respectively. It could also decrease the incidence of several relevant diseases.
Conclusion: Our findings emphasize the need to consider air pollution-related health effects as an important impact of traffic policy in Shanghai.