Health Effects of Air Pollution in China

Abstract

Background Rapid economic and social development in China has resulted in severe air pollution and consequent adverse impacts on society. The health effects of air pollution have been widely studied. Methods Using information from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) database, we established a hierarchical linear model combining pollution and socioeconomic and psychosocial variables to examine the effects of air pollution on public health in China. Local air pollution was characterized in multiple dimensions. Results The relationship of health to its determinants greatly differed between Eastern and Central/Western China. Higher education, higher income level, better life satisfaction, and long-term marriage were significantly associated with better health status among Chinese. In addition, regional healthcare resources were positively associated with the health of residents. As indicated by the hierarchical model with health as dependent variable, in Central/Western China, longest duration of good air quality in spring/summer was positively associated with health (estimated coefficient = 0.067, standard error = 0.026), while the mean Air Quality Index (AQI) in autumn/winter was inversely associated with health (estimated coefficient = −0.082, standard error = 0.031). Good air quality in the current study is defined as daily average AQI less than 35. Conclusions Duration (in days) of acceptable air quality was particularly important for improving public health. Future policies should target increased duration of good air quality while managing air pollution by controlling or decreasing severe air pollution.

Air Pollution and Health Status in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA)

“…Nakao et al (2017) provides similar evidence showing that air pollution from coal results to a deterioration of health-related quality of life (HR-Qol) for Mongolian adults in Ulaanbaatar. Liu et al (2018) provides similar evidence showing adverse effect of air pollution on public health in China.…”

“…Using data for the periods 2000 to 2007, Nakao et al (2017) made use of the logistic regression to examine the effect of air pollution on health-related quality of life (HR-Qol) of Mongolian adults living in Ulaanbaatar: The logistic regression model is applied mainly when the dependent variable is dichotomous and the data set is cross sectional. The logistic regression model was also applied by Liu et al (2018) in examining the health effects of air pollution in China. Ebenstein et al (2017) made use of the Ordinary least square (OLS) regression technique in examining the impact of sustained exposure to air pollution on life expectancy in China.…”

The impacts of socioeconomic status and lifestyle on health status of residents: Evidence from Chinese General Social Survey data

“…Data collected over longer time periods could be used to provide more robust and concrete evidence. Secondly, previous studies have concluded that regional environment factors can also pose influences on the health status of residents significantly; however, because of the unavailability of data, we failed to control for such factors. Lastly, the evaluation of socioeconomic status is extremely complex, and how to measure it comprehensively remains a question that has not reached a clear consensus.…”

Association of Ambient Air Pollution with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Incidence in Ten Large Chinese Cities, 2006–2013

“…Tobacco and alcohol consumption are confirmed to be potential pathogenic factors of NPC [31,32], so we adjusted for tobacco and alcohol consumption per capita (adjusted by the historical CPI (consumer price index) index for tobacco and alcohol). Similarly, per capita disposable income (adjusted to baseline by using CPI index history to eliminate inflation) was added to control for the effect of social economic status [33][34][35][36]. Levels of urban education popularization and public medical resources were controlled for by using educational personnel per capita and number of hospitals and clinics as proxies, as they may affect NPC incidence [18,36].…”