Air Quality and Morbidity: Concentration-response Relationships for Sweden

The study investigates the morbidity impacts of air pollution when pollution may affect both the likelihood and duration of respiratory problems. The relationship between comparatively low pollutant levels and respiratory ailments is estimated using Swedish data, and the change in respiratory-related restricted activity days (RRAD) due to a unit change in NO2 is calculated. The analysis pays particular attention to overdispersion, the high proportion of zero values and the peak in the RRAD distribution, problems that have not been addressed thoroughly in previous studies. Our results suggest that it is a challenging task to set air quality standards for environments where modes increases in pollutant concentrations may significantly prolong respiratory health problems for the most vulnerable individuals.