Abstract
In parallel with the social economic development, the social cost of air pollution is increasing as well. The health depreciation effects and medical cost effects of air pollution are particularly prominent. Based on the traditional health effects of air pollution, this study constructs a health index system from three dimensions: physical health, mental health, and social adaptability. Based on the daily monitoring data of air quality of 122 Chinese cities, and by matching the continuous tracking survey data of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) in 2015 and 2018, this study constructs a panel model and uses the instrumental variable to empirically investigate the health depreciation effects and medical cost effects of air pollution. It was found that air pollution has a significant health depreciation effect. The effects of AQI (air quality index) on physical health, mental health, and social adaptability were − 0.6682, − 19.0686, and − 0.9816, respectively. Also, air pollution has a significant medical cost effect. The health depreciation and medical cost effects of CO, NO2, and SO2 are more remarkable. Moreover, the number of extreme pollution days has significant and adverse effects on both physical and mental health. Apparently, the number of severe and serious pollution days have higher impacts on social adaptability and medical expenses. In addition, there are significant group heterogeneity and regional heterogeneity in the health depreciation effects and medical cost effects of air pollution.
Highlights
• The impact of air pollution on health is multidimensional.
• The impact of air pollution on the health of different residents is heterogeneous.
• Different pollutants have different health effects and medical cost effects.
• The government should pay attention to the decrease of social adaptability.
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Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are openly available at the following URL/DOI:http://charls.pku.edu.cn/
Notes
http://www.mofcom.gov.cn/article/i/jyjl/l/202102/20210203038237.shtml. According to the preliminary statistics of GDP in 2020.
Hainan Province, Tibet Autonomous Region, and Ningxia Autonomous Region were not included in the sample.
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This study is supported by the National Natural Science Fund of China (71904167) and Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (LQ20G030018).
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HL drafted and revised it critically for important intellectual content and approved the version to be published and carried out language retouching and modification. HL made a substantial contribution to the concept and design of the work, interpretation of data, and drafted the article.
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Liu, H. Health depreciation effect and medical cost effect of air pollution: based on multidimensional health perspective. Air Qual Atmos Health 15, 877–892 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-022-01189-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-022-01189-w