Author(s)

Siyuan (Larry) Chen^1*, Michelle Dai², Fengli Lin³

¹William G. Enloe High School, Raleigh, NC, USA.
²North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Durham, NC, USA.
³Maternal & Child Health Care Center, Yunhe District, Cangzhou City, China.

This work investigates the impact of air pollution on human health in China. First-hand data obtained at a suburban area of Beijing between January 2014 and June 2016 forms the basis for our study. It is hypothesized that there is a statistically significant relationship between lung cancer incidences and levels of air pollutants, in particular, PM2.5 and O3. Methods of analysis include correlation analysis, multiple regression, and trend analysis. Our results verify the hypothesis, and reveal that the high rates of lung cancer development in the studied period of 30 months can be interpreted by the high concentration of PM2.5 and O3 using the Poisson linear regression model. It is also discovered that PM2.5 and O3 have a strong negative correlation and they alternatingly serve as the primary contributor of high rates of lung cancer in cold and warm seasons. Also, men are found to have a higher rate of developing lung cancer than women, and middle-aged people are most likely to develop lung cancer compared to the elderly and youth.

PM_2.5, O₃, Air Pollution, Lung Cancer

Chen, S. , Dai, M. and Lin, F. (2018) Effects of PM_2.5 and O₃ on Human Health at a Suburban Area of Beijing, China. Journal of Environmental Protection, 9, 870-881. doi: 10.4236/jep.2018.98054.