get_paf

This function calculates the population attributable fraction (PAF) of a health outcome due to exposure to an environmental stressor

This R package has been developed with a focus on air pollution and noise but can applied to other exposures. The initial development has been funded by the European Union project BEST-COST. Disclaimer: It is work in progress and the developers are not liable for any calculation errors or inaccuracies resulting from the use of this package.
References (in chronological order):
WHO (2003a) "Assessing the environmental burden of disease at national and local levels" <https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9241546204> (accessed October 2025);
WHO (2003b) "Comparative quantification of health risks: Conceptual framework and methodological issues" <doi:10.1186/1478-7954-1-1> (accessed October 2025);
Miller & Hurley (2003) "Life table methods for quantitative impact assessments in chronic mortality" <doi:10.1136/jech.57.3.200> (accessed October 2025);
Steenland & Armstrong (2006) "An Overview of Methods for Calculating the Burden of Disease Due to Specific Risk Factors" <doi:10.1097/01.ede.0000229155.05644.43> (accessed October 2025);
Miller (2010) "Report on estimation of mortality impacts of particulate air pollution in London" <https://cleanair.london/app/uploads/CAL-098-Mayors-health-study-report-June-2010-1.pdf> (accessed October 2025);
WHO (2011) "Burden of disease from environmental noise" <https://iris.who.int/items/723ab97c-5c33-4e3b-8df1-744aa5bc1c27> (accessed October 2025);
Jerrett et al. (2013) "Spatial Analysis of Air Pollution and Mortality in California" <doi:10.1164/rccm.201303-0609OC> (accessed October 2025);
GBD 2019 Risk Factors Collaborators (2020) "Global burden of 87 risk factors in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019" <doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30752-2> (accessed October 2025);
VanderWeele (2019) "Optimal Approximate Conversions of Odds Ratios and Hazard Ratios to Risk Ratios" <doi: 10.1111/biom.13197> (accessed October 2025);
WHO (2020) "Health impact assessment of air pollution: AirQ+ life table manual" <https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/337683/WHO-EURO-2020-1559-41310-56212-eng.pdf?sequence=1> (accessed October 2025);
ETC HE (2022) "Health risk assessment of air pollution and the impact of the new WHO guidelines" <https://www.eionet.europa.eu/etcs/all-etc-reports> (accessed October 2025);
Kim et al. (2022) "DALY Estimation Approaches: Understanding and Using the Incidence-based Approach and the Prevalence-based Approach" <doi:10.3961/jpmph.21.597> (accessed October 2025);
Pozzer et al. (2022) "Mortality Attributable to Ambient Air Pollution: A Review of Global Estimates" <doi:10.1029/2022GH000711> (accessed October 2025);
Teaching group in EBM (2022) "Evidence-based medicine research helper" <https://ebm-helper.cn/en/Conv/HR_RR.html> (accessed October 2025).

Alberto Castro

healthiar

Quantify and Monetize the Burden of Disease Attributable to
Exposure

Axel Luyten

Arno Pauwels

Liliana Vazquez Fernandez

Vanessa Gorasso

Carl Michael Baravelli

Susanne Breitner

Maria Lepnurm

Maria Jose Rueda Lopez

Iracy Pimenta

Andreia Novais

Ana Barbosa

Joao Vasco Santos

Anette Kocbach Bolling

get_paf function

<dl><dt>rr_at_exp</dt>
<dd><code>Numerical value</code> Risk estimate of the concentration response function for a specific concentration. The population attributable fraction is normally calculated using the risk estimate that refers to the concentration that reflects the population exposure and the cut-off. This risk estimate is obtained after re-scaling from the epidemiological study with a particular increment (e.g. for PM2.5 10 or 5 ug/m3) to the aimed concentration.</dd>
<dt>prop_pop_exp</dt>
<dd><code>Numeric value</code> or <code>numeric vector</code> specifying the population fraction(s) exposed for each exposure (category). Default: 1. See Details for more info. Only applicable in RR pathways.</dd></dl>

Arguments

Author

Get population attributable fraction — get_paf

<dl>

<dt>rr_at_exp</dt>
<dd><code>Numerical value</code> Risk estimate of the concentration response function for a specific concentration. The population attributable fraction is normally calculated using the risk estimate that refers to the concentration that reflects the population exposure and the cut-off. This risk estimate is obtained after re-scaling from the epidemiological study with a particular increment (e.g. for PM2.5 10 or 5 ug/m3) to the aimed concentration.</dd>


<dt>prop_pop_exp</dt>
<dd><code>Numeric value</code> or <code>numeric vector</code> specifying the population fraction(s) exposed for each exposure (category). Default: 1. See Details for more info. Only applicable in RR pathways.</dd>

</dl>

Get population attributable fraction

get_paf: Get population attributable fraction

Description

Usage

Value

Arguments

Author

Details

Examples