Air Pollution (Particulate Matter) Exposure and Associations with Depression, Anxiety, Bipolar, Psychosis and Suicide Risk: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Particulate air pollution's physical health effects are well known, but associations between particulate matter (PM) exposure and mental illness have not yet been established. However, there is increasing interest in emerging evidence supporting a possible etiological link. This systematic revi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental health perspectives Vol. 127; no. 12; p. 126002
Main Authors: Braithwaite, Isobel, Zhang, Shuo, Kirkbride, James B., Osborn, David P. J., Hayes, Joseph F.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences 01.12.2019
Environmental Health Perspectives
Subjects:
Air Pollutants
Air pollution
Air Pollution - statistics & numerical data
Animal cognition
Anxiety
Bipolar disorder
Bipolar Disorder - epidemiology
Depression - epidemiology
Disease Susceptibility
Environmental Exposure - statistics & numerical data
Epidemiology
Etiology
Exposure
Health aspects
Humans
Hypotheses
Mental depression
Mental disorders
Mental health
Mental health care
Meta-analysis
Observational studies
Outdoor air quality
Particulate emissions
Particulate matter
Pollutants
Pollution
Population
Psychosis
Psychotic Disorders - epidemiology
Quality assessment
Quality control
Review
Risk Factors
Statistical analysis
Statistical significance
Stress
Studies
Suicidal behavior
Suicide
Suicide - statistics & numerical data
Systematic review
Ultrafines
Eastern Europe
United Kingdom
China
ISSN:0091-6765, 1552-9924, 1552-9924
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Particulate air pollution's physical health effects are well known, but associations between particulate matter (PM) exposure and mental illness have not yet been established. However, there is increasing interest in emerging evidence supporting a possible etiological link. This systematic review aims to provide a comprehensive overview and synthesis of the epidemiological literature to date by investigating quantitative associations between PM and multiple adverse mental health outcomes (depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, psychosis, or suicide). We undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis. We searched Medline, PsycINFO, and EMBASE from January 1974 to September 2017 for English-language human observational studies reporting quantitative associations between exposure to PM in aerodynamic diameter (ultrafine particles) and PM and in aerodynamic diameter ( and , respectively) and the above psychiatric outcomes. We extracted data, appraised study quality using a published quality assessment tool, summarized methodological approaches, and conducted meta-analyses where appropriate. Of 1,826 citations identified, 22 met our overall inclusion criteria, and we included 9 in our primary meta-analyses. In our meta-analysis of associations between long-term ( ) exposure and depression ( studies), the pooled odds ratio was 1.102 per increase (95% CI: 1.023, 1.189; ). Two of the included studies investigating associations between long-term exposure and anxiety also reported statistically significant positive associations, and we found a statistically significant association between short-term exposure and suicide in meta-analysis at a 0-2 d cumulative exposure lag. Our findings support the hypothesis of an association between long-term exposure and depression, as well as supporting hypotheses of possible associations between long-term exposure and anxiety and between short-term exposure and suicide. The limited literature and methodological challenges in this field, including heterogeneous outcome definitions, exposure assessment, and residual confounding, suggest further high-quality studies are warranted to investigate potentially causal associations between air pollution and poor mental health. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP4595.
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ISSN:0091-6765
1552-9924
1552-9924
DOI:10.1289/EHP4595