Objective:To study the impact of air pollution on the medical expenditure of middle-aged and elderly families in China,in order to provide empirical evidence to reduce the economic burden of diseases of middle-aged and elderly people and to cope with the aging of the population.Methods:Based on the household medical expenditure of middle-aged and elderly people aged 45 and above in the China health and retirement longitudinal study 2020 database,and the air quality indices of each city re-leased by the China National Environmental Monitoring Centre,the degree of influence of air pollution on the household medical ex-penditure of middle-aged and elderly people was analyzed by using the sharp regression discontinuity model.Results:Air pollution has a significant positive effect on the medical expenditure of middle-aged and elderly households(P<0.05),and the medical ex-penditure of middle-aged and elderly households will increase by 60.5%under the influence of air pollution.The results of hetero-geneity test show that different groups of people have different sensitivity to air pollution,the regression coefficient of household medical expenditure of middle-aged and elderly people with high school education and above is 2.307(P<0.05),and the regres-sion coefficient of household medical expenditure of middle-aged and elderly people in urban areas is 0.977(P<0.05).The regres-sion coefficient of household medical expenditure of middle-aged people is 1.973(P<0.05).The regression coefficient of house-hold medical expenditure of middle-aged and elderly people with education background below high school,those living in rural are-as,and those over 60 years old is not significant.Conclusion:Air pollution has an impact on the household medical expenditures of middle-aged and elderly people in China,especially for highly educated,urban and middle-aged residents,and it is important to combat air pollution to improve the health status of middle-aged and elderly people and prevent or reduce the risk of catastrophic medical expenditures of middle-aged and elderly households.
Medical ExpenditureAir PollutionBurden of DiseaseMiddle-aged and Elderly People
万方数据
维普
