Climate Change, Air Quality and Urban Health: Evidence from Urban Air Quality Surveillance System in 161 Cities of China 2014

Longjian Liu,Guangzi Song,Yong Long,Julianne Nelson,Haoyang Guo,Heqing Shen,Yan Nie,Liangxia Chen,Seth Welles,Charles N Haas,Xuan Yang,Mingquan Wang,Arthur Frank,Feng Jia

doi:10.4236/gep.2018.63011

Abstract

Air pollution has posed a serious public health issue in China. In the study, we aimed to examine the burden of air pollution and its association with climate factors and total mortality. City-level daily air quality index (AQI) data in 161 cities of China in 2014, and meteorological factors, socioeconomic status and total morality were obtained from China environmental, meteor-ology and healthcare agencies. Linear regression, spatial autocorrelation analysis and panel fixed models were applied in data analysis. Among 161 cities, monthly average AQI was significantly different by seasons and regions. The highest average AQI was in winter, and the lowest in summer. A significant clustering distribution of AQI by cities was observed, with the highest AQI in north China (22 cities, mean = 117.36). Among the 161 cities, 5 cities (3%) had AQI > 150 (e.g., moderate polluted reference value), and 50 cities (31.1%) had AQI between 100 and 150 (slightly polluted value). Heat index, precipitation and sunshine hours were negatively and significantly, but air pressure was positively correlated with AQI. Cities with higher AQI concentrations had higher total mortality than those with lower AQI. This AQI-mortality association remained significant after adjustment for socioeconomic status. In conclusion, the study highlights the burden and seasonal, regional and areas variations in air pollution across the nation. Air pollution is estimated to account for more than 4% of the urban health inequality in total mortality in China.

Highlights

Urban air pollution is becoming a global concern as it has great impacts on the environment and public health
air quality index (AQI) is a sum indicator calculated from a group of air pollutants, which is derived from daily measurements of five atmospheric pollutants: particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and ozone (O3)
As AQI varies by time, using panel fixed time effect models, the results suggest that 39.2% of the variation in AQI could be explained by the differences in meteorological factors and time in China 2014

Summary

Introduction

Urban air pollution is becoming a global concern as it has great impacts on the environment and public health. Outdoor air pollution has become a top environmental concern in China [2] [3] [4] [5], and has been examined by several studies [2] [3] [6]-[12]. Few studies examined the association between climate change and air quality, and how this differs by physical and socioeconomic environments in China. We applied the most recently nationally representative data from multiple resources on air quality, meteorological factors and health outcomes (e.g. total mortality) that were collected and reported under the guidelines of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, China Meteorological Data Sharing Service System, and National Health Statistics Center of the People’s Republic of China [13] [14] [15] [16]. We tested two hypotheses: 1) There are significant variations in air pollution concentrations by seasonal, geographic and socioeconomic regions in China. 2) Air pollution was positively correlated with total mortality rates

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Conclusion