A Pilot Study on Health-based Assessment for Economic Loss Caused by Sand-dust Weather in China

Objective To develop a method for estimating the economic loss for human health damage caused by sand-dust weather in China during the period of 2002-2006.Methods The PM10 level was used as an indicator that expressed the exposure to sand-dust weather.The national monitoring data of sand-dust weather in 2002-2006 were collected from China Meteorological Administration,and then converted to PM10 level.The economic assessment of the mortality and morbidity effects due to sand-dust weather was performed according to mortality and morbidity statistical data and epidemiological PM10 exposure-response functions by Meta analysis.The economic assessment of the health effects was calculated by using human capital approach and cost of illness.Results Two big cities in North China were taken as example,the economic loss for human health damage caused by sand-dust weather from 2002 to 2006 were calculated by using proposed method.Conclusion The proposed method is practical and can be used for estimating the economic loss for human health damage caused by sand-dust weather.