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Study on the challenge and influence of the built thermal environment on elderly health in rural areas: Evidence from Shandong, China

  • Research Article
  • Indoor/Outdoor Airflow and Air Quality
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Abstract

Elderly health is increasingly recognized as a worldwide challenge with the continuous social aging trend. This study aimed to investigate the thermal conditions of the elderly in rural areas of Shandong, China. The thermal sensation and physiological response performances of elderly participants were examined in their own houses. Results show a clear seasonal pattern in cardiovascular disease mortality, cold stress increases the cardiovascular disease risk. The coal-based stoves serve as the main source of home heating and their limited coverage of the room area gave rise to poor quality of thermal comfort. The analysis of skin temperature for those under 65 and above did not reveal any significant difference in response to different indoor temperatures. The regression results confirm that a colder home leads to a rising value of the elderly’s systolic blood pressure, rising by more than 1 mmHg for every 1 °C decrease in indoor temperature and thus posing a greater risk of cardiovascular diseases. The systolic blood pressure value of older subjects rise more when they are exposed to decreasing indoor temperatures, possibly due to an age-related decline in their ability to maintain stability of blood pressure. It is noteworthy that the average blood velocity of older subjects reduces less in response to decreasing indoor temperatures, indicating a weakened capacity to resist cold stress and its associated high risk of hypertension. This investigation provides evidence in favor of improving the thermal environment of the elderly and reducing their risk of cardiovascular diseases.

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Acknowledgements

This research is supported by “China National Key R&D Program Research on the energy efficiency and health performance improvement of building operations based on lifecycle carbon emissions reduction, grant number 2018YFE0106100” and the Shandong Natural Science Foundation “Research on Flexible District Integrated Energy System under High Penetration Level of Renewable Energy”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Innovation Institute for Sustainable Maritime Architecture Research and Technology, Qingdao University of Technology, Fushun Road 11, Qingdao, 266033, China

    Yanxue Li, Yue Gu & Weijun Gao

  2. Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

    Yanxue Li & Fu Xiao

  3. Qingdao Women and Children’s Hospital, Tongfu Road 6, Qingdao, 266000, China

    Zhihui Li

  4. Faculty of Environmental Engineering, The University of Kitakyushu, Kitakyushu, 808-0135, Japan

    Xiaoyi Zhang & Weijun Gao

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  1. Yanxue Li
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  2. Yue Gu
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  3. Zhihui Li
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  4. Xiaoyi Zhang
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  5. Weijun Gao
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  6. Fu Xiao
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Conceptualization, Y Li, X Zhang, W Gao and F Xiao.; methodology, Y Li, X Zhang and Y Gu; investigation, Y Gu; resources, Z Li.; writing—original draft preparation, Y Li. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yanxue Li or Xiaoyi Zhang.

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Li, Y., Gu, Y., Li, Z. et al. Study on the challenge and influence of the built thermal environment on elderly health in rural areas: Evidence from Shandong, China. Build. Simul. 16, 1345–1360 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-023-1013-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-023-1013-5

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