Assessing the Cost of Medical Care of Respiratory Diseases Caused by Indoor Pollution

Abstract

In the more developed countries it has been recognised for 20 or 25 years that people spend most of their lives indoors where air quality may be different and possibly worse than that outdoors. Although the concentrations of pollutants outdoors have been measured many times and the results are easily accessible, similar data for concentrations indoors are largely lacking. It is particularly important that the levels of nitrogen dioxide are known since this is an impor tant causative factor for respiratory disease. A model based on building dynamics theory has been proposed to predict the concentration of indoor nitrogen dioxide. The assessment of the cost of medical care of respiratory disease caused by indoor air pollution is part of a more general need for the overall assessment of the costs related to air pollution. Data collected during a cross sectional survey conducted on a population sample of occupationally non-exposed adults from northern Italy have allowed the degree of illness related to indoor nitrogen dioxide levels and the corresponding cost of medical care to be estimated.