Annoyance from vehicular air pollution: A comparison of European exposure–response relationships

In this paper exposure–response relationships for Norway are compared against those developed in a Swiss, Swedish and a European multi-site study. The exposure–response relationships link annoyance from vehicular air pollution with exposure to nitrogen dioxide and pulmonary matter. By harmonising the relationships derived from the separate studies, and simply superimposing estimated relationships on the same x–y graph, it is possible to visually assess to which degree the various relationships are consistent. Such comparisons indicate that people's reactions to vehicular air pollution follow similar patterns in the European urban areas that were studied. Given the relatively consistent and systematic relationship between vehicular air pollution and population annoyance, air pollution epidemiologists may want to consider the annoyance reactions closer. Not only are these important for the life quality of the urban population, but also annoyance may contribute to stress-mediated health impacts.