Assessing the Effect of Air Pollution on Human Health Using Drug Sales Data

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, evidence of the effect of air pollution on health started to appear, suggesting association between particulate matter and mortality. Since then, a substantial literature has emerged on health effects from exposure to air pollution, which escalated recently with a study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer which found sufficient evidence to classify air pollution as a leading environmental cause of cancer deaths. In this work we study the association between exposure to outdoor pollution and drug sales for respiratory diseases in England. Exposure is evaluated over space and time at areas where air pollution is measured by monitoring stations and a linear mixed models is used to link exposure with drug sales within the same areas. Risk factors and confounding variables are also considered.