Econ Papers Daily / 期刊论文
雾霾中诞生：1892-1919年伦敦历史急性空气污染暴露的即时与持续健康后果
Born in Smog: Immediate and persistent health consequences of acute air pollution exposure in historical London, 1892–1919
摘要
This paper examines how acute pollution exposure in historical London (1892–1919) affected child health. I proxy acute, extreme pollution exposure using daily data on fog events, which reflect meteorological conditions where pollution emitted in the city was not dispersed across space leading to a sharp spike in pollution. I also use rich individual-level data on child health drawn from the Queen Charlotte Hospital, a maternity hospital, and the Foundling Hospital, an orphanage. I find no effect of pollution exposure at birth on birth or growth outcomes or on upper respiratory morbidity. However, exposure on the day of birth had persistent effects on health, increasing mortality risk in childhood and adolescence from respiratory diseases and raising incidence, prevalence and sickness duration of influenza and measles. There was no persistent effect of in utero and postnatal pollution exposures. These mixed results show that extreme pollution at birth had lasting impacts on specific, but also limited, dimensions of child health.
中文摘要
本文研究了历史时期伦敦（1892-1919年）急性污染暴露对儿童健康的影响。我利用每日雾天事件数据作为急性极端污染暴露的代理变量——这些雾天反映了城市排放的污染物因无法扩散而导致污染浓度急剧飙升的气象条件。同时，我采用来自夏洛特女王医院（一家妇产医院）和弃婴医院（一家孤儿院）的丰富个体层面儿童健康数据。研究发现，出生时的污染暴露对出生结局、生长发育指标或上呼吸道疾病发病率无显著影响。然而，出生当日的污染暴露对健康产生了持续性影响：它增加了儿童期及青少年期因呼吸系统疾病导致的死亡风险，并提高了流感与麻疹的发病率、患病率及病程持续时间。宫内暴露和产后暴露则未发现持续性影响。这些混合结果表明，出生时的极端污染暴露对儿童健康的特定维度（但范围有限）产生了持久影响。