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The challenge in linking air pollution to age-related disease and mortality risk lies in the confounding correlation with wealth. There are plausible physical m

The challenge in linking air pollution to age-related disease and mortality risk lies in the confounding correlation with wealth. There are plausible physical mechanisms involving, for example, increased levels of inflammation resulting from high levels of particulate air pollution, but regions with lower levels of air pollution tend to have much wealthier populations, and it is well known that wealth correlates with lower mortality and greater life expectancy, both for individuals and across societies as a whole.

pyk 10y ago
Agreed wealth is a confound, however there are several studies that control for socioeconomic status, air conditioning and smoking. These studies still observe a correlation between PM2.5 and increased all-cause mortality primarily driven by increased lung cancer and heart disease mortality. A couple studies linked below control for a few of these confounds, but there are several others too [1,2]. The causal reason is likely the fine particulate matter getting "stuck" in lung tissue and our bodies unable to remove the particles causing accumulative issues on lung function [3]. [1] http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmsa0805646 http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmsa0805646 [2] http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/109/1/71.full http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/109/1/71.full [3] http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10473289.2006.10464485 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10473289.2006.104...
mikeash 10y ago
Is clean air really correlated with wealth in China? The wealthy Chinese are generally in big cities which is where the terrible pollution is found.
- et-al 10y ago
  With money, you can outfit your home and workplace with air filters and own a weekend villa further away from the smog. You're still exposed, but at a much lesser amount than the guard who has to stand outside all day. See also: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/05/world/asia/the-privileges-of-chinas-elite-include-purified-air.html http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/05/world/asia/the-privileges-...

pyk 10y ago

Agreed wealth is a confound, however there are several studies that control for socioeconomic status, air conditioning and smoking. These studies still observe a correlation between PM2.5 and increased all-cause mortality primarily driven by increased lung cancer and heart disease mortality. A couple studies linked below control for a few of these confounds, but there are several others too [1,2]. The causal reason is likely the fine particulate matter getting "stuck" in lung tissue and our bodies unable to remove the particles causing accumulative issues on lung function [3]. [1] http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmsa0805646 http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmsa0805646 [2] http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/109/1/71.full http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/109/1/71.full [3] http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10473289.2006.10464485 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10473289.2006.104...

mikeash 10y ago

Is clean air really correlated with wealth in China? The wealthy Chinese are generally in big cities which is where the terrible pollution is found.

et-al 10y ago
With money, you can outfit your home and workplace with air filters and own a weekend villa further away from the smog. You're still exposed, but at a much lesser amount than the guard who has to stand outside all day. See also: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/05/world/asia/the-privileges-of-chinas-elite-include-purified-air.html http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/05/world/asia/the-privileges-...