Show simple item record

Files in this item

Thumbnail

Item metadata

dc.contributor.advisorKeenan, Katherine
dc.contributor.advisorHale, Jo Mhairi
dc.contributor.advisorKulu, Hill
dc.contributor.advisorBörger, Tobias
dc.contributor.authorHu, Kai
dc.coverage.spatialxiv, 212 p.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2022-11-25T15:06:23Z
dc.date.available2022-11-25T15:06:23Z
dc.date.issued2022-05-04
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10023/26500
dc.description.abstractThe Chinese population is ageing rapidly, and older Chinese adults (aged 45 and over) have spent a large proportion of their lives exposed to historically high levels of air pollution (AP). Previous studies suggest that there is a strong association between AP and individual health outcomes, but most of them have relied on cross-sectional measures of AP exposure and health, or both. These limit our understanding of how short-term, long-term, and cumulative exposures lead to changes in health outcomes. This PhD thesis addresses these gaps by investigating the longitudinal relationship between long-term and short-term exposure to AP and the health of older adults in China. The thesis uses two kinds of survey data and two kinds of AP data. The Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) 2011 and 2014 is linked with monitoring station AP data (used in chapter 4), and the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS) 2011, 2013 and 2015, is linked with PM₂.₅ data that are retrieved from satellite data via remote sensing technology (used in chapters 5 and 6). The main finding of the first empirical chapter using the CLHLS is that increased frailty incidence is associated with higher long-term exposure to AP rather than short-term fluctuations. The second empirical chapter using the CHARLS shows that exposure to PM₂.₅ over 15 years is associated with higher multimorbidity accumulation, and higher levels of PM₂.₅ are associated with a higher likelihood of membership to both respiratory and cardio-metabolic disease classes. The results of the third empirical chapter indicate that long-term exposure to PM₂.₅ is associated with poorer cognitive function, but different measures of long-term AP exposure are associated with different levels of cognitive decline. Overall, the three chapters indicate that long-term AP exposure has a negative association with elderly health, but that there may be some individual and contextual differences which are being conflated with these associations, and which deserve further exploration. This thesis, therefore, makes several substantive and methodological contributions. First, I create a unique longitudinal dataset by linking historical AP data to representative longitudinal ageing surveys at the city level. Second, I investigate the associations of short-term and long-term exposure with health outcomes. Third, health outcomes of older adults are measured longitudinally using three comprehensive indicators that can reflect the complex relationship between AP and elderly health. The findings highlight the need to further consider cumulative and life-course AP exposure on elderly health at a smaller geographical scale.en_US
dc.description.sponsorship"I would like to thank the China Scholarship Council and the University of St Andrews for awarding me the CSC-St Andrews PhD studentship (CSC No. 201703780011)." -- Acknowledgementsen
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/*
dc.subjectAir pollutionen_US
dc.subjectElderly healthen_US
dc.subjectFrailtyen_US
dc.subjectMultimorbidityen_US
dc.subjectCognitive declineen_US
dc.subjectLongitudinal analysisen_US
dc.subjectChinaen_US
dc.titleAssociations between exposure to air pollution and health: A longitudinal study of middle-aged and older adults in Chinaen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.contributor.sponsorChina Scholarship Council (CSC)en_US
dc.contributor.sponsorUniversity of St Andrewsen_US
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoralen_US
dc.type.qualificationnamePhD Doctor of Philosophyen_US
dc.publisher.institutionThe University of St Andrewsen_US
dc.rights.embargodate2025-05-07
dc.rights.embargoreasonThesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Restricted until 7th May 2025en
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.17630/sta/231
dc.identifier.grantnumberCSC No. 201703780011en_US


The following licence files are associated with this item:

    This item appears in the following Collection(s)

    Show simple item record

    Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
    Except where otherwise noted within the work, this item's licence for re-use is described as Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International