TY - JOUR
T1 - Mental health consequences of urban air pollution
T2 - prospective population-based longitudinal survey
AU - Bakolis, Ioannis
AU - Hammoud, Ryan
AU - Stewart, Robert
AU - Beevers, Sean
AU - Dajnak, David
AU - MacCrimmon, Shirlee
AU - Broadbent, Matthew
AU - Pritchard, Megan
AU - Shiode, Narushige
AU - Fecht, Daniela
AU - Gulliver, John
AU - Hotopf, Matthew
AU - Hatch, Stephani L
AU - Mudway, Ian S
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [RES-177-25-0015]. This paper represents independent research part-funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. Ioannis Bakolis is supported by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and by the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South London at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, King’s College London. Dr. Mudway’s involvement in this study was part funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Protection Research Unit in Environmental Exposures and Health, a partnership between Public Health England and Imperial College London. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR, Public Health England or the Department of Health and Social Care. This work was further supported by the UK Medical Research Council via the MRC Centre for Environment and Health.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s).
PY - 2020/10/24
Y1 - 2020/10/24
N2 - Purpose: The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently ranked air pollution as the major environmental cause of premature death. However, the significant potential health and societal costs of poor mental health in relation to air quality are not represented in the WHO report due to limited evidence. We aimed to test the hypothesis that long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with poor mental health. Methods: A prospective longitudinal population-based mental health survey was conducted of 1698 adults living in 1075 households in South East London, from 2008 to 2013. High-resolution quarterly average air pollution concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2) and oxides (NO x), ozone (O 3), particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter < 10 μm (PM 10) and < 2.5 μm (PM 2.5) were linked to the home addresses of the study participants. Associations with mental health were analysed with the use of multilevel generalised linear models, after adjusting for large number of confounders, including the individuals’ socioeconomic position and exposure to road-traffic noise. Results: We found robust evidence for interquartile range increases in PM 2.5, NO x and NO 2 to be associated with 18–39% increased odds of common mental disorders, 19–30% increased odds of poor physical symptoms and 33% of psychotic experiences only for PM 10. These longitudinal associations were more pronounced in the subset of non-movers for NO 2 and NO x. Conclusions: The findings suggest that traffic-related air pollution is adversely affecting mental health. Whilst causation cannot be proved, this work suggests substantial morbidity from mental disorders could be avoided with improved air quality.
AB - Purpose: The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently ranked air pollution as the major environmental cause of premature death. However, the significant potential health and societal costs of poor mental health in relation to air quality are not represented in the WHO report due to limited evidence. We aimed to test the hypothesis that long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with poor mental health. Methods: A prospective longitudinal population-based mental health survey was conducted of 1698 adults living in 1075 households in South East London, from 2008 to 2013. High-resolution quarterly average air pollution concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2) and oxides (NO x), ozone (O 3), particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter < 10 μm (PM 10) and < 2.5 μm (PM 2.5) were linked to the home addresses of the study participants. Associations with mental health were analysed with the use of multilevel generalised linear models, after adjusting for large number of confounders, including the individuals’ socioeconomic position and exposure to road-traffic noise. Results: We found robust evidence for interquartile range increases in PM 2.5, NO x and NO 2 to be associated with 18–39% increased odds of common mental disorders, 19–30% increased odds of poor physical symptoms and 33% of psychotic experiences only for PM 10. These longitudinal associations were more pronounced in the subset of non-movers for NO 2 and NO x. Conclusions: The findings suggest that traffic-related air pollution is adversely affecting mental health. Whilst causation cannot be proved, this work suggests substantial morbidity from mental disorders could be avoided with improved air quality.
KW - Air quality
KW - Common mental disorders
KW - Mixed models
KW - Psychotic experiences
KW - Urban health
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85093926973&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00127-020-01966-x
DO - 10.1007/s00127-020-01966-x
M3 - Article
C2 - 33097984
SN - 0933-7954
VL - 56
JO - Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
JF - Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
IS - 9
ER -
