Abstract
In this study, we attempted to investigate the general statistical association of air pollution with the cardiovascular and respiratory mortality of the elderly in Hong Kong. Based on six years of measurements including the major air pollutant concentrations (PM10, SO2, NO, NO2, O3, CO), ambient temperature, and mortality (respiratory, cardiovascular) between 2005 and 2010, correlation analysis was carried out in annual, monthly and weekly time scales. From an annual perspective, it was found that the air pollution species may pose a constant effect on the respiratory and the cardiovascular mortality during the studied period since the elderly mortality rates and the air pollution annual concentrations show obvious constant trends. From a monthly time scale, it was found that NO2 and CO have high positive cross correlation with the respiratory mortality of the following 1 to 2 months. In addition, PM10 and CO also have similar delayed influence on the cardiovascular mortality. Among these four pollutants, only CO was found to exhibit high statistical association in the weekly time scale and it is most related to the cardiovascular mortality of the week after next. Therefore, it was concluded that the effect of air pollution on the elderly mortality of Hong Kong should be cumulative. This study implies that the establishment of weekly or monthly air quality indices is necessary for health implications.
Highlights
Hong Kong, a well-known mega-city worldwide, has experienced alarming air pollution since the last two decades
The present study attempted to address this issue by investigating the general statistical correlations of the main air pollution species of Hong Kong with the elderly mortality rates of different time scales
The present study aims to quantify the overall correlation of air pollution and mortality in different time scales
Summary
Hong Kong, a well-known mega-city worldwide, has experienced alarming air pollution since the last two decades. Many studies were carried out to model their relationship in Hong Kong so that more accurate limit values of air quality standards or indices could be established to protect this fragile group [6,7,8,9]. These studies mainly focused on investigating the short-term effects of air pollution on the daily mortality. The air pollution and mortality data used in this study are briefly introduced
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