Department of Sociology, Minzu University of China, 27 Zhongguancun South Avenue, Beijing, 100081, China.
Department of Economics, Claremont Graduate University, 170 E. 10th Street, Claremont, CA, 91711, USA.
Int J Equity Health. 2018 Feb 5;17(1):18. doi: 10.1186/s12939-018-0719-y.
China is experiencing environmental issues and related health effects due to its industrialization and urbanization. The health effects associated with air pollution are not just a matter of epidemiology and environmental science research, but also an important social science issue. Literature about the relationship of socioeconomic factors with the environment and health factors is inadequate. The relationship between air pollution exposure and health effects in China was investigated with consideration of the socioeconomic factors.
Based on nationwide survey data of China in 2014, we applied the multilevel mixed-effects model to evaluate how socioeconomic status (represented by education and income) contributed to the relationship between self-rated air pollution and self-rated health status at community level and individual level.
The findings indicated that there was a non-linear relationship between the community socioeconomic status and community air pollution in urban China, with the highest level of air pollution presented in the communities with moderate socioeconomic status. In addition, health effects associated air pollution in different socioeconomic status groups were not equal. Self-rated air pollution had the greatest impact on self-rated health of the lower socioeconomic groups. With the increase of socioeconomic status, the effect of self-rated air pollution on self-rated health decreased.
This study verified the different levels of exposure to air pollution and inequality in health effects among different socioeconomic groups in China. It is imperative for the government to urgently formulate public policies to enhance the ability of the lower socioeconomic groups to circumvent air pollution and reduce the health damage caused by air pollution.
中国正经历着工业化和城市化带来的环境问题及其相关健康影响。与空气污染相关的健康影响不仅是流行病学和环境科学研究的问题，也是一个重要的社会科学问题。关于社会经济因素与环境和健康因素之间关系的文献还不够充分。本研究考虑了社会经济因素，调查了中国空气污染暴露与健康影响之间的关系。
本研究基于 2014 年中国全国性调查数据，应用多水平混合效应模型，评估社会经济地位（以教育和收入表示）如何影响社区和个体层面的自评空气污染与自评健康状况之间的关系。
研究结果表明，中国城市社区的社会经济状况与社区空气污染之间存在非线性关系，社会经济状况中等的社区空气污染程度最高。此外，不同社会经济地位群体的空气污染健康效应也不相同。与高社会经济地位群体相比，空气污染对低社会经济地位群体的自评健康状况影响更大。随着社会经济地位的提高，自评空气污染对自评健康的影响呈下降趋势。
本研究验证了中国不同社会经济群体对空气污染的暴露水平不同，以及健康效应的不平等。政府迫切需要制定公共政策，增强低社会经济群体规避空气污染的能力，降低空气污染造成的健康损害。
