Chronic Exposure to Air Pollution and Risk of Mental Health Disorders Complicating Pregnancy

Abstract Background Mental health disorders appear as a growing problem in urban areas. While common mental health disorders are generally linked to demographic and socioeconomic factors, little is known about the interaction with the urban environment. With growing urbanization, more and more people are exposed to environmental stressors potentially contributing to increased stress and impairing mental health. It is therefore important to identify features of the urban environment that affect the mental health of city dwellers. The aim of this study was to define associations of combined long-term exposure to air pollution, noise, surrounding green at different scales, and building morphology with several dimensions of mental health in Brussels. Methods Research focuses on the inhabitants of the Brussels Capital Region older than 15 years. The epidemiological study was carried out based on the linkage of data from the national health interview surveys (2008 and 2013) and specifically developed indicators describing each participant’s surroundings in terms of air quality, noise, surrounding green, and building morphology. These data are based on the geographical coordinates of the participant’s residence and processed using Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Mental health status was approached through several validated indicators: the Symptom Checklist-90-R subscales for depressive, anxiety and sleeping disorders and the 12-Item General Health Questionnaire for general well-being. For each mental health outcome, single and multi-exposure models were performed through multivariate logistic regressions. Results Our results suggest that traffic-related air pollution (black carbon, NO2, PM10) exposure was positively associated with higher odds of depressive disorders. No association between green surrounding, noise, building morphology and mental health could be demonstrated. Conclusions These findings have important implications because most of the Brussel’s population resides in areas where particulate matters concentrations are above the World Health Organization guidelines. This suggests that policies aiming to reduce traffic related-air pollution could also reduce the burden of depressive disorders in Brussels.

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Air Pollution and Emergency Department Visits for Mental Disorders among Youth

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17124190 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (12) ◽

pp. 4190

Author(s):

Mieczysław Szyszkowicz ◽

Roger Zemek ◽

Ian Colman ◽

William Gardner ◽

Termeh Kousha ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Air Pollution ◽

Particulate Matter ◽

Nitrogen Dioxide ◽

Air Pollutants ◽

Fine Particulate Matter ◽

Mental Health Disorders ◽

Fine Particulate ◽

Ed Visits ◽

Health Disorders

Although exposure to ambient air pollution has been linked to mental health problems, little is known about its potential effects on youth. This study investigates the association between short-term exposure to air pollutants and emergency department (ED) visits for mental health disorders. The National Ambulatory Care Reporting System database was used to retrieve ED visits for young individuals aged 8–24 years in Toronto, Canada. Daily average concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and daily maximum 8 h ozone (O3) were calculated using measurement data from seven fixed stations. A case-crossover (CC) design was implemented to estimate the associations between ED visits and air pollution concentrations. Mental health ED visits were identified using International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD-10) codes, with seven categories considered. Models incorporating air pollutants and ambient temperature (with lags of 0–5 days) using a time-stratified CC technique were applied. Multivariable regression was performed by sex, three age groups, and seven types of mental health disorders to calculate relative risk (RR). The RRs were reported for one interquartile range (IQR) change in the air pollutant concentrations. Between April 2004 and December 2015 (4292 days), there were 83,985 ED visits for mental-health related problems in the target population. Several exposures to air pollutants were shown to have associations with ED visits for mental health including same day exposure to fine particulate matter (IQR = 6.03 μg/m3, RR = 1.01 (95% confidence interval: 1.00–1.02), RR = 1.02 (1.00–1.03)) for all and female-only patients, respectively. One-day lagged exposure was also associated with ED visits for PM2.5 (RR = 1.02 (1.01–1.03)), for nitrogen dioxide (IQR = 9.1 ppb, RR = 1.02 (1.00–1.04)), and ozone (IQR = 16.0 ppb, RR = 1.06 (1.01–1.10)) for males. In this study, urban air pollution concentration—mainly fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide—is associated with an increased risk for ED visits for adolescents and young adults with diagnosed mental health disorders.

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