China issued a series of control measures to mitigate PM 2.5 pollution, including long-term (i.e., Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan, APPCAP) and short-term (emergency measures in autumn and winter) acts. However, the O 3 concentration increased significantly as PM 2.5 levels sharply decreased when these measures were implemented. Therefore, the policy-driven positive/negative health effects of PM 2.5 /O 3 need to be comprehensively estimated. The health impact function (HIF) is applied to evaluate the health burden attributable to long- and short-term PM 2.5 and O 3 exposure. The results show that the PM 2.5 concentration decreased by 42.95% in 74 cities, whereas O 3 pollution is increased by 17.56% from 2013 to 2018. Compared with 2013, the number of premature deaths attributable to long- and short-term PM 2.5 exposure decreased by almost 5.31 × 104 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.87 × 104–4.71 × 104) (10.13%) and 3.00 × 104 (95% CI: 1.66 × 104–4.39 × 104) (72.49%), respectively, in 2018. In contrast, O 3 -attributable deaths, increased by 1.98 × 104 (95% CI: 0.31 × 104–3.59 × 104) (130.57%) and 0.91 × 104 (95% CI: 0.50 × 104–1.33 × 104) (76.16%) for long- and short-term exposure, respectively. The number of avoidable deaths attributed to PM 2.5 reduction is larger than the level of premature deaths related to increasing O 3. Although annual mean PM 2.5 concentrations have fallen rapidly, the benefits of reducing long-term exposure are limited, whereas the deaths associated with acute exposure decrease more significantly due to the reduction of heavy-pollution days by implementing emergency measures. The results show appreciable effectiveness in protecting human health and illustrate that synchronous control of PM 2.5 and O 3 pollution should be emphasized. Unlabelled Image • Premature deaths averted by PM 2.5 reduction are larger than those of increasing O 3. • Emergency measures help to improve PM 2.5 pollution and the related health burden. • O 3 may be the focus of disease risk in the coming years. • The synchronous control of PM 2.5 and O 3 pollution is necessity for health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]