AUTHOR=Mumtaz Ayesha , Rehman Nadia , Haider Aftab , Rehman Shazia 

TITLE=Long-Term Air Pollution Exposure and Ischemic Heart Disease Mortality Among Elderly in High Aging Asian Economies

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2021

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.819123

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2021.819123

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=The impact of environmental pollution on cardiac mortality has been well-documented in the epidemiological literature. There is, however, a paucity of evidence on the impact of air pollution exposure on ischemic heart disease mortality among Asian aged. In response, this research seeks to investigate the degree of proximity between exposure to ambient PM2.5, household PM2.5, ground-level ozone (O3), and mortality from ischemic heart disease in the top seven Asian economies with the highest aging rates. This investigation is held in two phases. In the first phase, grey modeling is employed to assess the degree of proximity among the selected variables, and then rank them based on their estimated grey weights. In addition, a grey-based Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (G-TOPSIS) is adopted to identify the key influencing factor that intensifies cardiac mortality across the selected Asian economies. According to the estimated results, South Korea was the most afflicted nation in terms of cardiac mortality owing to exposure to ambient PM2.5 and ground-level ozone (O3), whereas, India was the biggest contributor to raising cardiac mortality due to household PM2.5 exposure among the studied nations. Further, the outcomes of G-TOPSIS highlighted that exposure to household PM2.5 is the key influencing risk factor for increased cardiac mortality in these regions, outweighing all other air pollutants. In conclusion, this grey assessment may enable policy-makers to target more vulnerable individuals based on scientific facts and promote regional environmental justice. Stronger emission regulations will also be required to mitigate the adverse health outcomes associated with air pollution exposure, particularly in regions with a higher elderly population