An environmental policy designed to improve air quality also has benefits for cardiovascular health, finds a new McGill-led study.
Researchers found China's Clean Heating Policy - introduced to reduce smog by helping rural households switch from coal to electric or natural gas home heating - also lowered adults' blood pressure. High blood pressure is the leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease worldwide.
"Environmental policies are rarely evaluated to see if they actually accomplished their goals. Our findings show that this massive policy can improve air quality and also generate measurable health benefits, strengthening the case for investing in cleaner household energy," said senior author Jill Baumgartner, Professor in McGill's Department of Equity, Ethics and Policy.
About one-third of the world's population still relies on coal, wood and crop residues to cook and heat their homes, she added. Burning these fuels releases pollutants that increase the risk of heart disease, stroke and respiratory illness.
Findings from the field
McGill PhD student Talia Sternbach travelled to rural communities near Beijing to conduct fieldwork for the study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives.
Over four years, Sternbach and colleagues followed over 1,200 adults in 50 villages, 20 of which entered the policy during the study. During repeated visits in winter, they measured blood pressure, indoor air pollution and indoor temperature, allowing them to track health and environmental outcomes as communities adopted the Clean Heating Policy.
Blood pressure dropped in adults living in villages that adopted the policy, compared with those in villages that had not yet joined the program. While modest at the individual level, the reductions could have a meaningful impact when multiplied across the millions of households covered by the policy, the authors said.
The study is among the first to assess the health effects of a government household energy policy as it was rolled out, rather than tested in a controlled research setting.
"Compared with clean cooking, clean heating remains relatively understudied," said Sternbach. "Our findings and evaluation approach could help guide future energy transition programs in other locations where solid fuel heating remains common."
About the study
"China's Clean Heating Policy and effects on blood pressure in rural Beijing adults," by Talia Sternbach and Jill Baumgartner et al., was published in Environmental Health Perspectives. Funding was provided by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Health Effects Institute.
