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Journal Article Epublish 2 citations

PubMed: 40138275 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0320332

Association of ambient air pollution exposure with psychological distress in mid and later adulthood: A 26-year prospective cohort study.

PLoS One 20(3):e0320332

Authors: Thomas Canning, Marcus Richards, Anna L Hansell, John Gulliver, Rebecca Hardy, Jorge Arias-de la Torre, Stephani L Hatch, Ian S Mudway, Amal R Khanolkar, Helen L Fisher, Ioannis Bakolis

Affiliations

  • Department of Biostatistics and Health Informatics, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
  • Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
  • Centre for Mental Health Policy and Evaluation, Health Service and Population Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
  • MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
  • Centre for Environmental Health and Sustainability, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom.
  • National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) in Environmental Exposures and Health at the University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom.
  • National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Leicester Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), Leicester General Hospital, Leicester, United Kingdom.
  • Population Health Research Institute, City St George's, University of London, London, United Kingdom.
  • Social Research Institute, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
  • School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, United Kingdom.
  • CIBER Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain.
  • Institute of Biomedicine (IBIOMED), University of Leon, Leon, Spain.
  • Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
  • ESRC Centre for Society and Mental Health, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
  • Population Health Improvement UK (PHI-UK), Population Mental Health Consortium, London, United Kingdom.
  • MRC Centre for Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
  • NIHR Health Protection Research Units in Environmental Exposures and Health, and Chemical and Radiation Threats and Hazards, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
  • Department of Population Health Sciences, School of Life Course & Population Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Existing evidence on associations between exposure to air pollution and psychological distress from middle to older age is limited by consideration of short exposure periods, poor historical covariates, exposures and outcomes, and cross-sectional study designs. We aimed to examine this association over a 26-year period between ages 43 and 69.

METHODS

We utilised data from the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development Study (the 1946 British birth cohort). Land-use regression models estimated exposure to specific air pollutants using household addresses for 1991 (NO2), 2001 (PM10, NO2), and 2010 (NO2, NOx, PM10, PM2.5, PMcoarse, PM2.5abs). These were linked to the closest data collection wave at ages 43, 53 and 60-64, respectively. Psychological distress was assessed through the 28-item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), at ages 53, 60-64 and 69. Associations between each of the pollutants with psychological distress were analysed using generalised linear mixed models, adjusted for pollution exposure before age 43, assigned sex, social class, smoking status, neighbourhood deprivation, and previous mental health problems. We also examined effect modification by social class.

RESULTS

At age 69, 2125 participants completed the GHQ-28. In fully adjusted models, higher NO2 exposure was associated with higher GHQ-28 scores across a 26-year period (β=0.023, 95%CI:0.005, 0.040 per interquartile range increase in exposure), whereas higher exposure to PM10 was associated with lower GHQ-28 scores across a 16-year period (β=-0.021, 95%CI:-0.037, -0.006). There was no evidence of associations between exposure to other pollutants at age 60-64 and GHQ-28 at age 69. We found no effect modification by social class.

CONCLUSIONS

In this cohort there was some evidence of an association between higher cumulative exposure to NO2 and higher psychological distress, but mixed associations with other exposures. Policies to reduce pollutant exposure may help improve psychological symptoms in middle to late adulthood.

MeSH

Environmental Pollutants, Air Pollution, Cohort Studies, Air, Environmental Pollution, Psychological Distress, Social Class