Assessment of the health impacts and economic burden arising from proposed new air quality objectives in a high pollution environment

We conducted a health impact assessment of the government’s proposed new air quality objectives (AQO) in Hong Kong, a high pollution environment. We based this on the World Health Organization (WHO) 2005 Air Quality Guidelines (AQG) and used a lognormal probability density function to model possible changes in annual mean pollutant levels resulting from the new AQO. All of the proposed short-term AQO were based on WHO interim targets (IT) or AQG, but allowed additional exceedances of these single limit values. Compliance with these short-term AQO may reduce (18-30%) the current annual mean concentrations but the distribution proportions exceeding the annual or annualized AQG remain high (83-100%). For SO2, the proposed 24-hr AQO of 125 µg m-3, with 3 days exceedances, cannot ensure reduction of the current annual mean but may legally permit an increase of the pollutant concentration distribution. If the proposed legal limits of AQO are fully exploited by polluters, we estimated the annual number of avoidable deaths at 1860, and avoidable health care events at 5.2 million doctor visits and 92745 hospital bed-days with a total annual community cost of US$2.6 billion. The proposed AQO may only reduce the current air pollution health impacts by 17% but could achieve 41% reduction if additional exceedances were not permitted. An epidemiologic approach should be adopted to assess external costs arising from modifications of WHOAQG and support accountability in air quality management. This analysis of the WHOAQG in a high pollution setting demonstrates problems arising from the absence of annual limits for some pollutants and the discordance between the short-term and annual AQG, suggesting that revisions based on a lognormal probability model should be considered.published_or_final_versio

家長管教對青少年網上行為及態度的影響

眾所周知，互聯網對青少年的成長與發展有着重要的影響。然而影響是好是壞至今還沒有定論。近期的研究顯示，影響的好壞取決於青少年的社會及心理調整，對此家長的管教起著甚麼作用？有關家長管教行為對子女影響的研究不少，然而很少觸及互聯網或資訊科技的管教行為、及它們對青少年網上行為或態度的影響。本文報告一項包括1,212個隨機抽樣香港家庭的研究，探討互聯網對青少年的影響、及他們就互聯網有關的道德態度、以及它們與各類家長管教行為的關係。postprin

Cross-sectional difference in BMI between senior and junior students predicts prospective change in BMI at the school level

Poster Presentation: abstract no. 1196The Conference abstracts's website is located at http://www2.kenes.com/apccn/scientific/Pages/ListofAbstracts.aspxOBJECTIVES: To examine whether cross-sectional BMI difference between senior and junior secondary school students was correlated with prospective changes in BMI at the school level. BACKGROUND: Schools are known to exert prospective influences on adolescent BMI. The school effects may also be reflected in cross-sectional BMI differences between senior and junior students in each school. Schools could quickly be identified for weight-control interventions if such cross-sectional differences could predict prospective changes in BMI. METHODS: In the Hong Kong Student …postprin

Alcohol consumption and sleep problems in Hong Kong adolescents

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Exposure to particulate air pollution at different living locations and respiratory symptoms in Hong Kong-an application of satellite information

Respiratory ill-health effects due to particulate air exposure at different geographical locations in Hong Kong that aggregate individual living locations were estimated based on satellite information. We assessed the presence of respiratory symptoms of a frequent cough or sputum in school students aged 11-20 years old (n=9,881). Daily particulate air pollution levels at students' living locations were derived from the surface extinction coefficients measured by satellite and measurements from the air pollutant monitoring stations at ground level. Adjusted odds ratio (OR) [95% CI] of respiratory symptoms was 1.047 [1.005, 1.091] per 10 g m-3 increase in PM10 concentration. Specificity tests showed that adjusted OR of having other symptoms is not significant (p=0.20-0.94). Exposures to PM10 at different geographical locations is associated with increased odds of having respiratory symptoms (cough or sputum) but not with other symptoms unrelated to air pollution. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.postprin

Discordance between one-hour and annual limits of the World Health Organization Air Quality Guideline (WHOAQG) for NO2

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: It is important to ensure the short-term and annual AQG are valid and robust to provide support to setting standards which, if enforced, will reliably ensure that exposure reduction targets are met effectively for health protection. METHODS: We developed a lognormal distribution model to examine the relationship between short-term and annual AQG for NO2 using data in 2010 in Hong Kong and London. This model …postprin

Meta-analysis of adverse health effects due to air pollution in Chinese populations

BACKGROUND: Pooled estimates of air pollution health effects are important drivers of environmental risk communications and political willingness. In China, there is a lack of review studies to provide such estimates for health impact assessments. METHODS: We systematically searched the MEDLINE database using keywords of 80 major Chinese cities in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan on 30 June 2012, yielding 350 abstracts with 48 non-duplicated reports either in English or Chinese after screening. We pooled the relative risks (RR) per 10 μg/m(3) of particulate matter (PM(10)), nitrogen dioxide (NO(2)), sulphur dioxide (SO(2)) and ozone (O(3)). RESULTS: For short-term effects, the pooled RR (p < 0.05) ranges were: 1.0031 (PM(10)) to 1.0140 (NO(2)) for all-cause mortality, 1.0034 (cardiopulmonary, PM(10)) to 1.0235 (influenza and pneumonia, SO(2)) for 9 specific-causes mortality, 1.0021 (cardiovascular, PM(10)) to 1.0162 (asthma, O(3)) for 5 specific-causes hospital admissions. For birth outcomes, the RR (p < 0.05) ranged from 1.0051 (stillbirth, O(3)) to 1.1189 (preterm-birth, SO(2)) and for long-term effect on mortality from 1.0150 (respiratory, SO(2)) to 1.0297 (respiratory, NO(2)). Publication bias was absent (Egger test: p = 0.326 to 0.624). Annual PM(10) and NO(2) concentrations were inversely associated with RR of mortality (p = 0.017-0.028). CONCLUSIONS: Evidence on short-term effects of air pollution is consistent and sufficient for health impact assessment but that on long-term effects is still insufficient

Inference of gene-phenotype associations via protein-protein interaction and orthology

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A prospective interventional study to examine the effect of a silver alloy and hydrogel--coated catheter on the incidence of catheter-associated urinary tract infection

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Allergy in Hong Kong: an unmet need in service provision and training

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