Attributable risk and economic cost of hospital admissions for depression due to short-exposure to ambient air pollution: A multi-city time-stratified case-crossover study

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BackgroundDepression has become the most common mental disease globally and is a strong predictor for suicide. Studies have indicated that exposure to high levels of air pollution increased the risk of depression, but evidence in human populations is still limited. At present, a few studies estimated the impact of multi-pollutants on hospitalization for depression in multi-city in areas with severe air pollution. We aimed to examine the association between short-term exposure to common ambient air pollutants and hospital admissions (HAs) for depression based on statistics of inpatients with depression in multi-city. MethodsThe 10,459 records of HAs for depression from medical institutions in nine cities/prefectures, Sichuan Province, China, between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2018 were collected. Air pollutant data including PM2.5, PM10, SO2 and NO2 from provincial ecological environment monitoring stations were obtained. Based on a time-stratified case-crossover design, we estimated the impact on relative risk (RR) of short-term exposure to air pollutants on hospitalization for depression, with stratification by sex, age, and economic level. The cost of illness method was used to further assess hospitalization costs. ResultsThe short-term exposure to air pollutants was positively associated with hospitalization for depression. The increase of air particulate matter (PM) had the strongest effect on lag 0 day (PM2.5:1.037 (95% CI:1.022,1.052), PM10:1.024 (95% CI:1.013,1.036)). The effects of SO2 reached the peak on lag 2 day (1.317 (95% CI:1.151,1.507)). Women and older people were more likely to be affected by air pollutants and prone to depression (P = 0.013, P = 0.006). During the study period, the economic cost of hospitalization for depression caused by PM pollution was US$ 8.36 million. LimitationsThe air pollutant concentration level of the monitoring stations in the study area was regarded as personal pollutant exposure, which may not accurately reflect the patient's exposure level, resulting in a certain measurement error. ConclusionsShort-term changes to ambient air pollution exposure may increase the risk of hospital admissions for depression and cause economic costs due to hospitalization.