Benefits of Short-term Premature Mortality Reduction Attributed to PM 2.5 Pollution: A Case Study in Long an Province, Vietnam

PM 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 -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 concentration data, data of exposed population, data of baseline premature mortality rate, and data of health impact functions were used. Hourly PM 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 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 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.