The study on "Quantified study on human health impact caused by coal-burning air pollution in China" is a special subject in the National ？？Ninth-five？？ Key Research Project for Environmental Protection. In this study, some important results were obtained by comprehensively using environmental epidemiology, environmental chemistry and pollution aerography. These results include: a) defining the coal-burning pollutant exposure levels by establishing the dose-exposure mathematic model and analyzing the sources of atmospheric particles; b) determining population historical exposure levels of coal-burning pollutants, such as PM₁₀, PM_2.5 and BaP, contribution ratios of burning coal to air pollutants, and current air pollution levels caused by burning coal, based on the result of a); and c) determining the extent of population health damage caused by coal-burning pollutants by using a new method developed by this study.

         Some important results are as follows:

1.      Based on the analysis of particle sources, it was showed that the burning coal is the most main pollution source among 6 pollution sources including burning coal, soil, building materials, transportation, metallurgy and fuel.

2.      The contribution ratio of burning coal to air particles reached 33-35%. The ratios of PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 in TSP of coal-burning particles were as high as 80% and 63%, respectively. Moreover, 70-80% of harmful substances, such as BaP, As, Pb and Cr, accumulated in PM₁₀ and PM_2.5.

3.      The risks of respiratory symptoms and COPD among adults in heavily polluted areas were 1.7 and 1.5 times as high as those in relatively clean areas, respectively. And, the risks of respiratory symptoms and COPD among pupils in heavily polluted areas were 2.3 and 2.6-5.7 times as high as those in relatively clean areas, respectively.

4.      The risk of pupils suffering from asthma increased 3.98 times with the increase of every unit of the pollution index. FVC and FEF₅₀ of pupils decreased 194 ml and 172 ml respectively with the increase of every unit of the Ln(PM₁₀), and decreased 69 ml and 119 ml respectively with the increase of every unit of the Ln(SO₂).

5.      The rate of pregnant abnormalities showed an increased tendency with the aggravation of the coal-burning air pollution. The rates of congenital abnormality and dead fetus in heavily polluted areas were 2.2 and 3.6 times higher than those in relatively clean areas, respectively.

6.      It was suggested that the TSP, especially PM_2.5 should be paid more attention than other pollutants in the control of coal-burning air pollution.

       In this study, some new and important results were obtained, including the establishment of a mathematic model of coal-burning type of air pollution exposure, the determination of exposure levels of coal-burning pollutants, and the development of method used for quantitatively determining the extent of population health damage caused by air pollutants. To confirm the results of this study, the reference retrieval was carried out by using ？？USA Medical Literature？？, ？？MEDLINE from 1988 to 2000？？ and ？？Chinese Biomedical Literature Disc Databank from1983 to 2000？？ and no similar research result and report were found, it may be said that the results of this study fill up the some blank of science and technology in the same or near research fields.