Air pollution exposure assessment by land-use regression (LUR) - A pilot study aiming for health effects of air pollution in India

Large-scale studies on health effects of air pollution are seldom conducted in India and are compromised by challenges in assessing air pollution exposure at individual level. Due to the rapid economic development including industrialization and increasin g demand for motor vehicles, several cities in India including the large city of Delhi have very high levels of air pollution that have given concern on its impact on human health. Despite this alarming environmental situation, a huge gap of local scienti fic knowledge needs to be filled to initiate pollution control measures and policy developments targeting public health. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health and TERI in India join hands through the INDNOR programme to address these gaps in environmen tal health research and this pilot study is planned to initiate the collaboration. Before initiating large-scale population-based studies, the feasibility of conducting such a study in India should be examined, and this is the aim of this pilot study. Assessment of individual air pollution exposure is the major challenge in India in terms of expertise and cost. In western countries, recent cohort studies have applied innovative methods such as land-use regression (LUR) approach to estimate individual air pollution exposure, which reduces misclassification of exposure. The LUR approach is new to India. To apply this approach in India, international collaboration is needed, and the Oslo group of scientists has high competence and experience in this fiel d through the large EU funded ESCAPE project. In addition, a joint effort to develop a questionnaire is planned and to use this questionnaire in the pilot study. Further, the feasibility of recruiting study participants based on electoral rolls in Delhi w ill be examined. This pilot study will examine the feasibility of using the LUR approach in Delhi and of conducting large-scale population-based studies on health effects of air pollution in India.