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American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access originally published online on October 20, 2008
American Journal of Epidemiology 2008 168(11):1311-1318; doi:10.1093/aje/kwn260
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American Journal of Epidemiology © The Author 2008. Published by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Air Pollution, Economic Development of Communities, and Health Status Among the Elderly in Urban China

Rongjun Sun and Danan Gu

Correspondence to Dr. Rongjun Sun, Department of Sociology, Cleveland State University, 2121 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44115 (e-mail: r.sun32{at}csuohio.edu).

Received for publication March 18, 2008. Accepted for publication July 30, 2008.

In Western societies, the impact of air pollution on residents' health is higher in less wealthy communities. However, it is not clear whether such an interaction effect applies to developing countries. The authors examine how the level of community development modifies the impact of air pollution on health outcomes of the Chinese elderly using data from the third wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Health Longevity Survey in 2002, which includes 7,358 elderly residents aged 65 or more years from 735 districts in 171 cities. The results show that, compared with a 1-point increase in the air pollution index in urban areas with a low gross domestic product, a similar increase in the air pollution index in areas with a high gross domestic product is associated with more difficulties in activities of daily living (odds ratio = 1.41, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.09, 1.83), instrumental activities of daily living (linear coefficient = 0.98, 95% CI: 0.58, 1.37), and cognitive function (linear coefficient = 2.67, 95% CI: 1.97, 3.36), as well as a higher level of self-rated poor health (odds ratio = 2.20, 95% CI: 1.68, 2.86). Contrary to what has been found in the West, Chinese elderly who live in more developed urban areas are more susceptible to the effect of air pollution than are their counterparts living in less developed areas.

aged; air pollution; China; health; social change

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; CLHLS, Chinese Longitudinal Health Longevity Survey; GDP, gross domestic product; MMSE, Mini-Mental State Examination


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