James Corbett of University of Delaware, in Newark, and James Winebrake of Rochester Institute of Technology, in New York, said the study correlates the global distribution of particulate matter -- black carbon, sulfur, nitrogen and organic particles -- released from ships’ smoke stacks with heart disease and lung cancer mortalities in adults.

Ships run on residual oil, which has sulfur content thousands of times greater than on-road diesel fuel, explained Winebrake.

"Residual oil is a byproduct of the refinery process and tends to be much dirtier than other petroleum products," Winebrake said in a statement.

Corbett and Winebrake mapped marine pollution concentrations over the oceans and on land, estimating global and regional mortalities from ship emissions by integrating global ship inventories, atmospheric models and health impacts analyses.

Shipping emissions death rates in Europe are estimated at 26,710, 19,870 in East Asia, 9,950 in South Asia, 5,000 in North America and 790 in South America.

The findings are scheduled to be published in the Dec. 15 issue of Environmental Science and Technology.