Inconsistent Association between Perceived Air Quality and Self-Reported Respiratory Symptoms: A Pilot Study and Implications for Environmental Health Studies

Yang Liu, Mei-Po Kwan () and Zihan Kan
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Yang Liu: Department of Geography and Resource Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
Mei-Po Kwan: Department of Geography and Resource Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
Zihan Kan: Department of Geography and Resource Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 2, 1-17

Abstract: As public awareness of air quality issues becomes heightened, people’s perception of air quality is drawing increasing academic interest. However, data about people’s perceived environment need scrutiny before being used in environmental health studies. In this research, we examine the associations between people’s perceptions of air quality and their self-reported respiratory health symptoms. Spearman rank correlation coefficients were estimated and the associations were tested at the 95% confidence level. Using data collected from participants in two representative communities in Hong Kong, the results indicate a weak but significant association between people’s perceived air quality and their self-reported frequency of respiratory symptoms. However, there are disparities in such an association between different genders, age groups, household income levels, education levels, marital statuses, and geographic contexts. The most striking disparities are between genders and geographic contexts. Multiple significant associations were observed for male participants (correlation coefficients: 0.169~0.205, p -values: 0.021~0.049), while none was observed for female participants. Besides, multiple significant associations were observed in the old town (correlation coefficients: 0.164~0.270, p -values: 0.003~0.048), while none was observed in the new town. The results have significant implications for environmental health research using social media data, whose reliability depends on the association between people’s perceived or actual environments and their health outcomes. Since inconsistent associations exist between different groups of people, researchers need to scrutinize social media data before using them in health studies.

Keywords: perceived air quality; air pollution; self-reported respiratory symptoms; environmental health; socio-demographic difference; geographic context (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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