In epidemiological studies, both spatial and temporal variations in nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) are a robust predictor of health risks. Compared to particulate matter, the experimental evidence for harmful effects at typical ambient concentrations is less extensive and not as clear for NO₂. In the wake of the “Diesel emission scandal—Dieselgate”, the scientific basis of current limit values for ambient NO₂ concentrations was attacked by industry lobbyists. It was argued that associations between NO₂ levels and medical endpoints were not causal, as NO₂ in older studies served as a proxy for aggressive particulate matter from incineration processes. With the introduction of particle filters in diesel cars, NO₂ would have lost its meaning as a health indicator. Austria has a high percentage of diesel-powered cars (56%). If, indeed, associations between NO₂ concentrations and health risks in previous studies were only due to older engines without a particle filter, we should expect a reduction in effect estimates over time as an increasing number of diesel cars on the roads were outfitted with particle filters. In previous time series studies from Vienna over shorter time intervals, we have demonstrated distributed lag effects over days up to two weeks and previous day effects of NO₂ on total mortality. In a simplified model, we now assess the effect estimates for moving 5-year periods from the beginning of NO₂ monitoring in Vienna (1987) until the year 2018 of same and previous day NO₂ on total daily mortality. Contrary to industry claims of a spurious, no longer valid indicator function of NO₂, effect estimates remained fairly stable, indicating an increase in total mortality of previous day NO₂ by 0.52% (95% CI: 0.35–0.7%) per 10 µg/m³ change in NO₂ concentration.

中文翻译：

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二氧化氮仍然是有效的空气质量指标。

在流行病学研究中，二氧化氮（NO ₂）的时空变化都是健康风险的有力预测指标。与颗粒物相比，在典型的环境浓度下对有害影响的实验证据较少，对于NO ₂也不那么清楚。在“柴油机排放丑闻-柴油门事件”之后，行业游说者抨击了环境NO ₂浓度当前限值的科学依据。有人认为，NO ₂水平与医学终点之间的联系不是因果关系，因为在较早的研究中，NO ₂可以替代焚烧过程中的侵蚀性颗粒物。随着柴油机颗粒过滤器的推出，NO₂会失去其作为健康指标的含义。奥地利的柴油动力汽车比例很高（56％）。如果确实，以前的研究中NO ₂浓度与健康风险之间的关联仅是由于未安装颗粒过滤器的旧发动机造成的，那么随着道路上配备颗粒物的柴油汽车数量的增加，我们可以预期效果估计会随着时间的推移而降低。过滤器。在之前的维也纳时间序列研究中，我们以较短的时间间隔显示了长达两周的几天内的分布滞后效应，以及前一天NO ₂对总死亡率的影响。在简化模型中，我们现在评估从NO ₂开始的5年周期内的影响估计在维也纳（1987年）进行监测，直到2018年为止，每天的总死亡率与第₂天相同。与业界声称的NO ₂的伪造，不再有效的指标功能相反，效果估计值保持相当稳定，表明每10 µg的前一天NO ₂的总死亡率增加了0.52％（95％CI：0.35-0.7％）。 / m ³ NO ₂浓度变化。