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

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 similar to 0.205, p-values: 0.021 similar to 0.049), while none was observed for female participants. Besides, multiple significant associations were observed in the old town (correlation coefficients: 0.164 similar to 0.270, p-values: 0.003 similar to 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.

Automated summary

As public awareness of air quality issues increases, academic interest in people's perception of air quality also grows. However, data on people's perceived environment need to be carefully examined before being used in environmental health studies. This research examines the associations between people's perceptions of air quality and their self-reported respiratory health symptoms using data from participants in two communities in Hong Kong. The results show a weak but significant association between people's perceived air quality and their self-reported frequency of respiratory symptoms. However, there are disparities in this association between different genders, age groups, household income levels, education levels, marital statuses, and geographic contexts.