Angel M Dzhambov1, Iana Markevych2, Boris Tilov3, Zlatoslav Arabadzhiev4, Drozdstoj Stoyanov4, Penka Gatseva5, Donka D Dimitrova6. 1. Department of Hygiene and Ecomedicine, Faculty of Public Health, Medical University of Plovdiv, 15A Vassil Aprilov Blvd., 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Electronic address: angelleloti@gmail.com. 2. Institute and Clinic for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany; Institute of Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany. 3. Medical College, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria; Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Agribusiness and Rural Development, Plovdiv, Bulgaria. 4. Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria. 5. Department of Hygiene and Ecomedicine, Faculty of Public Health, Medical University of Plovdiv, 15A Vassil Aprilov Blvd., 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria. 6. Department of Health Management and Healthcare Economics, Faculty of Public Health, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Recent years have seen growing, but still tentative, evidence of the potential associations of environmental noise and air pollution with mental disorders. In the present study, we aimed to examine the associations between residential noise and air pollution exposures and general mental health in young adults with a focus on underlying processes METHODS: We sampled 720 students (18-35 years) from one university in the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Residential noise (LAeq; day equivalent noise level) and air pollution (NO2) were assessed at participant's residential address by land use regression models. General mental health was measured with a short form of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). The following putative mediators were considered: annoyance from environmental pollution, sleep disturbance, restorative quality of the neighborhood, neighborhood social cohesion, and commuting/leisure time physical activity. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the theoretically-indicated interplay between exposures, mediators, and GHQ. RESULTS: We observed an association between higher LAeq and GHQ, in which environmental annoyance and neighborhood restorative quality emerged as key mediators. First, LAeq was associated with higher annoyance, and through it with lower restorative quality, and then in turn with lower physical activity, and thus with higher GHQ. Simultaneously, higher annoyance was associated with higher sleep disturbance, and thereby with higher GHQ. NO2 had no overall association with GHQ, but it was indirectly associated with it through higher annoyance, lower restorative quality, and lower physical activity working in serial. CONCLUSION: We found evidence that increased residential noise was related to mental ill-health through several indirect pathways. Air pollution was associated with mental health only indirectly.
BACKGROUND: Recent years have seen growing, but still tentative, evidence of the potential associations of environmental noise and air pollution with mental disorders. In the present study, we aimed to examine the associations between residential noise and air pollution exposures and general mental health in young adults with a focus on underlying processes METHODS: We sampled 720 students (18-35 years) from one university in the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Residential noise (LAeq; day equivalent noise level) and air pollution (NO2) were assessed at participant's residential address by land use regression models. General mental health was measured with a short form of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). The following putative mediators were considered: annoyance from environmental pollution, sleep disturbance, restorative quality of the neighborhood, neighborhood social cohesion, and commuting/leisure time physical activity. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the theoretically-indicated interplay between exposures, mediators, and GHQ. RESULTS: We observed an association between higher LAeq and GHQ, in which environmental annoyance and neighborhood restorative quality emerged as key mediators. First, LAeq was associated with higher annoyance, and through it with lower restorative quality, and then in turn with lower physical activity, and thus with higher GHQ. Simultaneously, higher annoyance was associated with higher sleep disturbance, and thereby with higher GHQ. NO2 had no overall association with GHQ, but it was indirectly associated with it through higher annoyance, lower restorative quality, and lower physical activity working in serial. CONCLUSION: We found evidence that increased residential noise was related to mental ill-health through several indirect pathways. Air pollution was associated with mental health only indirectly.
Authors: Pauline Hautekiet; Nelly D Saenen; Stefaan Demarest; Hans Keune; Ingrid Pelgrims; Johan Van der Heyden; Eva M De Clercq; Tim S Nawrot Journal: Environ Health Date: 2022-03-07 Impact factor: 5.984