Geographic and socioeconomic disparities in mortality burden attributable to long-term exposure to NO ₂ across 231 cities in China from 2015 to 2019

Research on geographic and socioeconomic disparities of NO₂ attributed mortality burden is limited. This study aims to quantify the geographic and socioeconomic differences in the association between long-term exposure to NO₂ and mortality burden in China. We estimated the all-cause mortality burden of adults over 16 years old attributable to NO₂ exposure above 10 µg/m³ for 231 Chinese cities from 2015 to 2019, and geographic and socioeconomic differences . Attributed fraction (AF), attributed deaths (AD), attributed mortality rate (AMR) and total value of statistical life lost (VSL) were used as the mortality burden measurements. Between 2015 and 2019, we estimated 1356.3 thousand deaths (95% CI: 513.7-2050.7) attributed to NO₂ exposure above 10 µg/m³ per year and VSL of 958.2 billion USD (95% CI: 362.9-1448.8). Cities in the northern region, cities with high levels of GDP per capita (PGDP) and urbanization suffered the highest mortality burden and corresponding economic loss. Consequently, significant geographic and socioeconomic disparities of NO₂ attributed mortality burden exist across cities in China.