Exposure to background pollution, both on a day-to-day basis and over the long term, leads to the most significant health effects, whether in terms of morbidity or mortality. The Psas monitors these long-term health effects of pollution.

The Gazel-Air study used data from the Gazel cohort (coordinated by Inserm’s UMS 11 unit) to establish, for the first time in France, the link between 25 years of exposure to air pollution, mortality, and indicators of cardiovascular disease (CVD), respiratory disease, and diabetes in a study population of over 20,000 volunteer EDF-GDF workers followed from 1989 to 2015. An association was observed between long-term exposure to air pollution and mortality. Indeed, in this study, increased concentrations of PM, nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), and benzene were associated with an increased risk of all-cause non-accidental mortality. Thus, a 10 µg/m³ increase in PM2.5 was associated with a 15% increase in the risk of total non-accidental mortality (i.e., a relative risk of 1.15). This relative risk was subsequently used in the quantitative health impact assessment (EQIS) in mainland France (exposure-mortality illustration).