Health Impacts of Climate Change and Air Pollution Exposures on Immigrant, Non- Immigrant, Adolescent and Older Adult Populations in Alberta

• Author / Creator

  Sidney, Brooke T

• Climate change and air pollution are two critical threats to human health. Various factors can impact a person's vulnerability to these exposures, including low income and a lack of access to high-quality health care. Immigrants have a higher likelihood of experiencing these factors when compared to non-immigrants, while also dealing with various social and cultural changes. My goal was to analyze and highlight the disparity of the health-related impacts of climate change and air pollution exposures on the immigrant population in Alberta. This knowledge is aimed at highlighting the need for clinicians to provide appropriate healthcare options for preventing or treating diseases, inform policymakers, help implement new programs and help immigrants advocate for their health and take action to reduce and/or adapt to these exposures.

  In the second chapter, a scoping review methodology was used to examine previous research to determine globally the health-related impacts of climate change and air pollution exposures on immigrants and refugees younger than 18 and 65 years and older. These ages were focused on as they may be more at risk to the impacts of these exposures. Two independent reviewers completed the title/abstract and full-text screening. Three studies fit the criteria and examined excessive temperatures
  with mortality and respiratory syncytial virus outcomes. One article found that higher temperatures were associated with higher respiratory syncytial virus incidence in refugee children younger than 5 years old. Two articles found that foreign-born and non-US citizens 65 or older were similarly or less susceptible compared to native-born, but younger individuals were more susceptible. Immigrants and refugees are understudied in the literature and often excluded. More focused research on this population is needed, especially among children, adolescents, and older adults and to expand to other health outcomes with climate change and air pollution exposures.

  A cross-sectional study was completed for the third chapter. The objective was to investigate and compare the effects of weather (extreme temperatures) and air pollution (wildfire smoke, NO2, O3, PM2.5) exposures on asthma, cardiovascular outcomes and mental disorders among immigrant (economic, sponsored by family and refugees), total (immigrants and non-immigrants; all ages), adolescent (total population; ages 12 to 17) and older adult (total population; ages 65 plus) populations in Alberta between 2009-2014. Multivariable logistic regression was completed for all populations. With high temperature exposure there were higher odds of self-reported asthma and cardiovascular outcomes for the total and immigrant populations respectively (Odds ratio (OR) [95% CI], moderate level = 1.34 [1.04-1.72]), high level = 1.58 [1.20-2.07]; low level = 3.15 [1.40-7.07], high level = 2.49 [1.09-5.65]). Immigrants and older immigrants had higher odds of a self-reported cardiovascular outcome with high temperature compared to non-immigrants (OR low level = 3.19 [1.39-7.29], moderate level = 2.69 [1.16-6.28], high level = 3.40 [1.45-7.97]; low level = 2.64 [1.02-6.82], moderate level = 3.48 [1.37-8.79], high level = 3.58 [1.29-9.91]). Older adults were found to have a positive association with low temperature and mental disorders (OR low level = 1.64 [1.00-2.69]). Immigrants and adolescents had higher odds of a self-reported mental disorder with low and high PM2.5 exposure levels (OR low level = 2.27 [1.01-5.07]; high level = 2.99 [1.02-8.74]). Immigrants had lower odds of self-reported asthma, cardiovascular outcomes and mental disorders compared to non-immigrants (OR = 0.37 [0.26-0.55] to OR = 0.40 [0.28-0.59]; OR = 0.35 [0.17-0.71]; OR = 0.60 [0.43-0.83] to OR = 0.64 [0.47-0.87]), while adolescent immigrants had lower odds of a self-reported mental disorder (OR = 0.11 [0.02-0.67] to 0.13 [0.02-0.82]). Long-term (10 plus years) and recent immigrants (less than 10 years) had decreased odds of self-reported asthma compared to non-immigrants (OR = 0.39 [0.26-0.59] to OR = 0.45 [0.30-0.68]; OR = 0.25 [0.13-0.49] to OR = 0.27 [0.13-0.56]). Long-term immigrants also had decreased odds of a self-reported mental disorder compared to non-immigrants (OR = 0.65 [0.46-0.91] to OR = 0.69 [0.51-0.95]). Overall, it was found that certain weather and air pollution exposures are associated with health risks, and there are differences between immigrants and non-immigrants and across different age groups. These results can be used to inform policymakers on immigrant health in Canada and hopefully will facilitate a discussion and lead to further research on this understudied topic.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Climate change
  • Air pollution
  • Immigrant
  • Adolescent
  • Older adult
  • Alberta
  • Canada

• Graduation date

  Fall 2024

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-ta6r-q316

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Library with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.