TY - JOUR
T1 - Associations between air pollution and perceived stress
T2 - The Veterans Administration Normative Aging Study -No section-
AU - Mehta, Amar J.
AU - Kubzansky, Laura D.
AU - Coull, Brent A.
AU - Kloog, Itai
AU - Koutrakis, Petros
AU - Sparrow, David
AU - Spiro, Avron
AU - Vokonas, Pantel
AU - Schwartz, Joel
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank the participants and staff of the VA Normative Aging Study. This work was supported by the grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (ES014663-01A2 and P01 ES09825) and from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA R832416, R827353, and R83241601). The Veterans Affairs (VA) Normative Aging Study is supported by the Cooperative Studies Program/Epidemiology Research and Information Center of the US Department of Veterans Affairs and is a component of the Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center, Boston, Massachusetts. Support was also provided by NIH grant R01-AG018436. This research was also supported by a VA Research Career Scientist award to David Sparrow and a VA Senior Research Career Scientist award to Avron Spiro, III. This publication was made possible by USEPA grant (R832416, R827353, R83241601, and EPA Clean Air Research Center grant RD83479801). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the grantee and do not necessarily represent the official views of the USEPA. Further, USEPA does not endorse the purchase of any commercial products or services mentioned in the publication.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Mehta et al.; licensee BioMed Central.
PY - 2015/1/27
Y1 - 2015/1/27
N2 - Background: There is mixed evidence suggesting that air pollution may be associated with increased risk of developing psychiatric disorders. We aimed to investigate the association between air pollution and non-specific perceived stress, often a precursor to development of affective psychiatric disorders. Methods: This longitudinal analysis consisted of 987 older men participating in at least one visit for the Veterans Administration Normative Aging Study between 1995 and 2007 (n∈=∈2,244 visits). At each visit, participants were administered the 14-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), which quantifies stress experienced in the previous week. Scores ranged from 0-56 with higher scores indicating increased stress. Differences in PSS score per interquartile range increase in moving average (1, 2, and 4-weeks) of air pollution exposures were estimated using linear mixed-effects regression after adjustment for age, race, education, physical activity, anti-depressant medication use, seasonality, meteorology, and day of week. We also evaluated effect modification by season (April-September and March-October for warm and cold season, respectively). Results: Fine particles (PM2.5), black carbon (BC), nitrogen dioxide, and particle number counts (PNC) at moving averages of 1, 2, and 4-weeks were associated with higher perceived stress ratings. The strongest associations were observed for PNC; for example, a 15,997 counts/cm3 interquartile range increase in 1-week average PNC was associated with a 3.2 point (95%CI: 2.1-4.3) increase in PSS score. Season modified the associations for specific pollutants; higher PSS scores in association with PM2.5, BC, and sulfate were observed mainly in colder months. Conclusions: Air pollution was associated with higher levels of perceived stress in this sample of older men, particularly in colder months for specific pollutants.
AB - Background: There is mixed evidence suggesting that air pollution may be associated with increased risk of developing psychiatric disorders. We aimed to investigate the association between air pollution and non-specific perceived stress, often a precursor to development of affective psychiatric disorders. Methods: This longitudinal analysis consisted of 987 older men participating in at least one visit for the Veterans Administration Normative Aging Study between 1995 and 2007 (n∈=∈2,244 visits). At each visit, participants were administered the 14-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), which quantifies stress experienced in the previous week. Scores ranged from 0-56 with higher scores indicating increased stress. Differences in PSS score per interquartile range increase in moving average (1, 2, and 4-weeks) of air pollution exposures were estimated using linear mixed-effects regression after adjustment for age, race, education, physical activity, anti-depressant medication use, seasonality, meteorology, and day of week. We also evaluated effect modification by season (April-September and March-October for warm and cold season, respectively). Results: Fine particles (PM2.5), black carbon (BC), nitrogen dioxide, and particle number counts (PNC) at moving averages of 1, 2, and 4-weeks were associated with higher perceived stress ratings. The strongest associations were observed for PNC; for example, a 15,997 counts/cm3 interquartile range increase in 1-week average PNC was associated with a 3.2 point (95%CI: 2.1-4.3) increase in PSS score. Season modified the associations for specific pollutants; higher PSS scores in association with PM2.5, BC, and sulfate were observed mainly in colder months. Conclusions: Air pollution was associated with higher levels of perceived stress in this sample of older men, particularly in colder months for specific pollutants.
KW - Aged
KW - Air pollution
KW - Male
KW - Particulate matter
KW - Prospective studies
KW - Psychological
KW - Stress
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84928734388&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/1476-069X-14-10
DO - 10.1186/1476-069X-14-10
M3 - Article
C2 - 25627872
AN - SCOPUS:84928734388
SN - 1476-069X
VL - 14
JO - Environmental Health: A Global Access Science Source
JF - Environmental Health: A Global Access Science Source
IS - 1
M1 - 10
ER -
