Pulmonary Disease in Xi’an Based on Environmental Problems*

Pang Yu, Qian Wen

Abstract: Background: With the sharp rise of urbanization, nowadays, more and more rural people are flocking into the city in search of jobs and better living to bring about an increasing number of migrant workers from countryside to cities, in which urban diseases are emerging rapidly. Environmental pollution is one of the most popular problems. The environment minister, Chen, Jining, proposed the idea of haze governance in the sessions of 2016 NPC and CPPCC. Environmental pollution can directly result in a decline in the residents’ immune defense of respiratory system and then they will be ill. Furthermore, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a common and frequently-occurring disease in respiratory-system-related diseases. Objective: The relationship between inpatients over 40 years old who are diagnosed with COPD. Methods: Simple random sampling and individual matching case-control study were adopted in this research. One hundred and sixty COPD patients (Cases) and the same amount of subjects undergoing physical examinations, respectively selected from secondary and tertiary hospitals and their physical examination centers in 4 different administrative regions of Xi’an, were involved in the questionnaire survey. Finally, logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the risk factors of COPD. Results: Males have a higher risk (64.41%) of getting COPD than females. Aging contributes significantly to the increase of cases. It is found that the highest proportion of COPD patients is among those at or over the age of 70 to 79. The environmental factors of COPD are found to be related with pollutions both outdoors (haze, automobile exhaust, catkin, industrial pollutant) and indoors (kitchen fumes, smoking or passive smoking, dust). smoking, ventilation in kitchen, exercise habit, gauze mask wear outside (OR = 0.163、0.044、0.008、0.026) are the main risk factors. Conclusion: It is urgent to improve environment in Xi’an. Air pollution (both indoors and outdoors) has long-term effects on COPD in adults. Two major elements are found to contribute to COPD, i.e., haze and smoking. At the end of this paper, the author proposes some suggestions from the perspective of the governors and residents on solutions to environmental problems in Xi’an. It is necessary to popularize related preventive knowledge, raise the awareness of COPD prevention and especially control the production of cigarettes.

Key words: environmental pollution, COPD, Xi’an, logistic regression analysis

JEL code: I120