The Potential Impacts of Climate Variability and Change on Air

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Pollution-Related Health Effects in the United States

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UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

2001

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Climate change may affect exposures to air pollutants by affecting weather, anthropogenic

emissions, and biogenic emissions and by changing the distribution and types of airborne allergens.

Local temperature, precipitation, clouds, atmospheric water vapor, wind speed, and wind direction

influence atmospheric chemical processes, and interactions occur between local and global-scale

environments. If the climate becomes warmer and more variable, air quality is likely to be affected.

However, the specific types of change (i.e., local, regional, or global), the direction of change in a

particular location (i.e., positive or negative), and the magnitude of change in air quality that may

be attributable to climate change are a matter of speculation, based on extrapolating present

understanding to future scenarios. There is already extensive evidence on the health effects of air

pollution. Ground-level ozone can exacerbate chronic respiratory diseases and cause short-term

reductions in lung function. Exposure to particulate matter can aggravate chronic respiratory and

cardiovascular diseases, alter host defenses, damage lung tissue, lead to premature death, and

possibly contribute to cancer. Health effects of exposures to carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and

nitrogen dioxide can include reduced work capacity, aggravation of existing cardiovascular

diseases, effects on pulmonary function, respiratory illnesses, lung irritation, and alterations in the

lung’s defense systems. Adaptations to climate change should include ensuring responsiveness of

air quality protection programs to changing pollution levels. Research needs include basic

atmospheric science work on the association between weather and air pollutants; improving air

pollution models and their linkage with climate change scenarios; and closing gaps in the

understanding of exposure patterns and health effects. Key words: air pollution, climate change,

criteria air pollutants, global warming, ozone, particulate matter. — Environ Health Perspect

109(suppl 2):199–209 (2001).