Copyright
©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Meteorological factors, ambient air pollution, and daily hospital admissions for depressive disorder in Harbin: A time-series study
Ting Hu, Zhao-Yuan Xu, Jian Wang, Yao Su, Bing-Bing Guo
Ting Hu, Department of Five Therapy, The First Psychiatric Hospital of Harbin, Harbin 150026, Heilongjiang Province, China
Zhao-Yuan Xu, Medical Section, The First Psychiatric Hospital of Harbin, Harbin 150026, Heilongjiang Province, China
Jian Wang, Department of Out-Patient, The First Psychiatric Hospital of Harbin, Harbin 150026, Heilongjiang Province, China
Yao Su, Science and Education, The First Psychiatric Hospital of Harbin, Harbin 150026, Heilongjiang Province, China
Bing-Bing Guo, Department of 22 Therapy, Harbin Psychiatric Baiyupao Hospital, Harbin 150000, Heilongjiang Province, China
Author contributions: Hu T designed and performed the research and wrote the paper; Guo BB designed the research and supervised the report; and Xu ZY, Wang J, and Su Y provided clinical advice.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of The First Psychiatric Hospital of Harbin.
Informed consent statement: This paper is a retrospective study that collects information on cases that have already occurred in the past, is analysed anonymously, does not expose patients' private information, does not cause harm to patients, and successful application for waiver of informed consent has therefore been made.
Conflict-of-interest statement: We have no financial relationships to disclose.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See:
https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Corresponding author: Bing-Bing Guo, MBBS, Associate chief physician, Department of 22 Therapy, Harbin Psychiatric Baiyupao Hospital, No. 101 Qianjin Village, Juyuan Town, Daowai District, Harbin 150000, Heilongjiang Province, China. guobingbing27@126.com.
Received: September 21, 2023
Peer-review started: September 21, 2023
First decision: October 9, 2023
Revised: October 23, 2023
Accepted: November 8, 2023
Article in press: November 8, 2023
Published online: December 19, 2023
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
Environmental factors have been shown to affect individual mental health; however, the relationships and effects of different environmental factors in relatively cold areas have not yet been clarified.
Research motivation
We studied the effects of environmental factors, including their interaction effects, on daily hospital admissions for depressive disorders, aiming to discover the patterns of interaction between various environmental factors and provide regional references for this research field.
Research objectives
To investigate the single and interaction effects of environmental factors, we modeled, measured, and plotted these potential effects and added evidence to explore the complex relationship between environmental factors and human mental health.
Research methods
We performed a retrospective study using data from Harbin, China between 2015 and 2022, including daily hospital admissions for depressive disorders, meteorological data, and air pollution data. A time-series analysis was conducted using generalized additive models with quasi-Poisson regression to measure the effect of each single factor on depression. A bivariate response surface model was used to model the interaction effects of different factors. Our data came from a higher-latitude area, offering an opportunity to investigate regional differences in relationship patterns and the effects of environmental factors.
Research results
Our results showed that air temperature and wind speed influenced daily hospital admissions. Extremely low temperatures and wind speeds could increase daily hospital admissions for depressive disorders by approximately 50%. atmospheric pressure, relative humidity, and the air pollutant nitrogen dioxide had significant but moderate effects. Interaction effects between three meteorological factors and six air pollutants were discovered.
Research conclusions
Meteorological factors and air pollutants have single and interaction effects on daily hospital admissions for depressive disorders, and the effect pattern may be related to coal-fired heating in winter.
Research perspectives
Specific mechanisms behind the complex relationships of environmental factors are to be studied.
