The effects of environmental stressors on the mortality of the oldest old male population in Hong Kong, 1977–2006

Figures & data

Figure 1. Age-specific mortality rate in Hong Kong, by sex, 1977–2006.

Table I.  Year-on-year percentage change in the mortality rates of the male and female oldest old.

Year	Male (%)	Female (%)
1977	–	–
1978	13*	−2
1979	−5	−3
1980	5	−2
1981	−25*	−7*
1982	20*	−2
1983	−12*	7*
1984	−5	−18*
1985	6	−1
1986	3	5*
1987	−1	−2
1988	−1	1
1989	−2	−2
1990	2	8*
1991	−5	−1
1992	3	7*
1993	−9*	−7*
1994	1	−9*
1995	−6*	−6*
1996	12*	13*
1997	3	1
1998	13*	0
1999	2	1
2000	−1	0
2001	−13*	−9*
2002	1	0
2003	5*	11*
2004	5*	1
2005	−2	1
2006	−7*	−15*

*Statistically significant (p < 0.05) year-on-year increase/decrease.

Figure 2. Oldest old mortality rate and key economic and political events in Hong Kong, 1977–2006.

Table II.  Key economic and political events as well as stressful weather in Hong Kong, 1977–2006.

Year	Event/stressful weather	Descriptions	Classification
1977	Stressful summer	Very large net effective temperature index was observed in summer in HK	Atmospheric
1978–1980	Second oil crisis	The political turmoil in Iran reduced oil production and drove oil price up for more than twice	Economic
1982	Property market downturn	Property values in HK have fallen an average of 30% in 6 months	Economic
	Stressful winter	Very small net effective temperature index was observed in winter in HK	Atmospheric
1983	Hong Kong Dollar linked to US Dollar	In response to the abnormal fluctuation in exchange rate (US$1 = HK$9.6), the HK Government established the linked exchange rate for US$1 at HK$7.8	Economic
	Stressful summer	Very large net effective temperature index was observed in summer in HK	Atmospheric
	Stressful winter	Very small net effective temperature index was observed in winter in HK	Atmospheric
1984	Sino-British Joint Declaration on the future of Hong Kong signed	The Declaration confirmed that the sovereignty of HK would be handed over to China from 1 July 1997	Political
	Stressful winter	Very small net effective temperature index was observed in winter in HK	Atmospheric
1986	Hang Seng Index (HSI) Futures contracts launched	As the first exchange-traded financial derivative in HK, the HSI futures contract attracted great interest; within 18 months, it accounted for 93% of the market's turnover	Economic
	Unification of 4 stock exchanges	The 4 stock exchanges were unified as a new exchange, which marked the new era of stock market	Economic
1987	Global stock market crash	HSI in HK dropped over 10% on a single day and the stock market was halt for 4 days; the final drop of HSI was 45.8%	Economic
1989	June 4th incident (also known as the Tiananmen Incident)	The incident was triggered by the conflict between the university students and the Chinese Government and ending up with violence; it weakened the confidence of the people in HK and sparked a massive wave of migration in HK	Political
1994	Sino-British airport financing deal signed	The HK Government decided to build a new airport. As most of the financing would extend beyond the date of sovereignty handover, China was concerned about excessive debt incurred; finally, the British and the Chinese government agreed on the amount of debt arising from the project and this agreement was considered as a significant victory for China	Political
1997	Establishment of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)	The handover of sovereignty of HK from the United Kingdom to China marked the end of the colonial era of HK	Political
	Asian currency turmoil triggered by the floating of Thai Baht	HSI once dropped over 20%; finally the HK Government intervened the market and bought about HK$120 billion worth of shares to stabilize the stock market	Economic
1998	Property market downturn and worst economic recession since 1961	The Chief Executive of HK announced the building of 85,000 flats per year, causing the downturn of property market and the economic recession	Economic
	Stressful summer	Very large net effective temperature index was observed in summer in HK	Atmospheric
2000	HSI reached all-time high	At the peak of the dot-com bubble, the HSI was driven to all-time high in HK	Economic
	Downturn of technology & internet stocks	The burst of the dot-com bubble led to the downturn of the technology and internet stocks in HK	Economic
2001	September 11th incident	A terrorist attack occurred in the US, leading to a minor impact on frequent flyers in HK who worried about terrorist attack on broad	Political
	China admitted as member of World Trade Organization (WTO)	After years of negotiation, China was admitted as member of WTO, which requested its members for economic liberalization and deregulation	Economic
2003	Outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)	HK was one of the places most badly hit by the SARS epidemic and the tourism industry was seriously affected as the World Health Organisation issued travel advisory (avoid travel to HK) for a long period	Social/ Economic
	Government announcement of a HK$11 billion package to stimulate economy	To restore the HK economy, the HK Government launched the Individual Visit Scheme for mainland tourists, offered income tax rebate, reduced sales tax and business levies and offered loan scheme for industries which were affected by the SARS outbreak	Economic
	Signing of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) between Hong Kong and mainland China	CEPA was one of the policies which helped to recover the HK economy; selected service sectors in HK were allowed to enter into the mainland China market and goods of HK origin importing to mainland China enjoyed tariff free treatment	Economic
2005	Change of the Chief Executive of the HKSAR Government	The Chief Executive of HK, Tung Chee-hwa, resigned before his term of 5-year-service and was replaced by Donald Tsang	Political
	Hosting the WTO 6th Ministerial Conference	Hosting the WTO Ministerial Conference was considered as an international event for HK, but the conflict between the Korean protesters and the HK Police sparked social controversy	Political

HK: Hong Kong; US: United States; HSI: Hang Seng index; WTO: World Trade Organisation; SARS: severe acute respiratory syndrome; CEPA: closer economic partnership arrangement.