Mortality and years of life lost due to wood heaters, Armidale 2018-2019 (published 2021)

An Australian study to estimate the annual burden of mortality and the associated health costs attributable to air pollution from wood heaters in Armidale, a regional Australian city (population, 24 504) with high levels of air pollution in winter caused by domestic wood heaters, 1 May 2018 – 30 April 2019. The health impact (excess annual mortality and financial costs) was assessed based upon atmospheric PM2.5 measurements.
Results:
– 14 premature deaths/year (95% CI, 12–17 deaths), corresponding to 210 years of life lost (95% CI, 172–249) are attributable to long term exposure to wood heater PM2.5 pollution in Armidale.
– The estimated financial cost is $32.8 million (95% CI, $27.0–38.5 million), or $10 930 (95% CI, $9004–12 822) per wood heater per year.
Conclusions: The substantial mortality and financial cost attributable to wood heating in Armidale indicates that effective policies are needed to reduce wood heater pollution, including public education about the effects of wood smoke on health, subsidies that encourage residents to switch to less polluting home heating (perhaps as part of an economic recovery package), assistance for those affected by wood smoke from other people, and regulations that reduce wood heater use (eg, by not permitting new wood heaters and requiring existing units to be removed when houses are sold).

Research article in MJA, single study
Australian study by Dorothy Robinson. A Podcast is also available with the article where she discusses the study findings.