International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ioannis Bakolis

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Guest Editor

Department of Biostatistics and Health Informatics, Health Services and Population Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London WC2R 2LS, UK
Interests: urbanicity; air pollution; mental health; psychosis; digital health

Dr. Joanne Newbury

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Guest Editor

Department of Social Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry, King's College London, London WC2R 2LS, UK
Interests: urbanicity; neighbourhood characteristics; air pollution; psychosis; psychotic symptoms; mental health; childhood and adolescence; cohort studies; causal inference

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

There is a well-established association between urban environments and mental health. The World Health Organisation (WHO) ranks air pollution as the main environmental cause of premature death with noise pollution second only to magnitude, both being key features of the urban environment. However, the significant potential health and societal costs of poor mental health in relation to air quality and noise are under-represented due to limited evidence and gaps and uncertainties in our knowledge of the potential pathways (green spaces, temperature, neighbourhood deprivation) that drive the reported associations.

There is also a growing body of global evidence that more vulnerable communities are more likely to be exposed to higher air and noise pollution levels. Individuals from low-income backgrounds and residents of more socially disadvantaged areas tend to be exposed to higher levels of air pollutants and noise, which could result in impaired mental health compared with their more affluent counterparts. However, these relationships are complex and mainly driven by different spatio-temporal distributions of environmental features and area-level socioeconomic factors. Yet, few studies have tried to understand the dynamics of environmental inequalities in relation to mental health and provide the appropriate frameworks to public health researchers and policy-makers to understand the public health implications in order to apply mitigation measures.

This Special Issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) invites papers of studies on air and noise pollution and mental health vulnerability at local, regional, and national levels. Observational studies, papers describing population-level health interventions, position papers, systematic reviews, and articles addressing potential mechanisms underlying the association between air and noise pollution and mental health are welcome and expected to add relevant information to our current knowledge.

Dr. Ioannis Bakolis
Dr. Joanne Newbury
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

air pollution
noise pollution
particulate matter
environment
green space
neighbourhood deprivation
socio-economic indicators
mental disorders
neurological and psychiatric disorders

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 1074 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution and the Incidence of Dementia in the Elderly of England: The ELSA Cohort

by Dylan Wood, Dimitris Evangelopoulos, Sean Beevers, Nutthida Kitwiroon and Klea Katsouyanni

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(23), 15889; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192315889 - 29 Nov 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1511

Abstract

Increasing evidence suggests an adverse association between ambient air pollution and the incidence of dementia in adult populations, although results at present are mixed and further work is required. The present study investigated the relationships between NO₂, PM₁₀, PM_2.5 and ozone on dementia incidence in a cohort of English residents, aged 50 years and older, followed up between 2004 and 2017 (English Longitudinal Study of Ageing; n = 8525). Cox proportional hazards models were applied to investigate the association between time to incident dementia and exposure to pollutants at baseline. Hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated per 10 μg/m³. Models were adjusted for age, gender, physical activity, smoking status and level of education (the latter as a sensitivity analysis). A total of 389 dementia cases were identified during follow-up. An increased risk of developing dementia was suggested with increasing exposure to PM_2.5 (HR: 1.10; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.88, 1.37), whilst NO₂, PM₁₀ and ozone exhibited no discernible relationships. Hazard ratios were 0.97 (CI: 0.89, 1.05) for NO₂; 0.98 (CI: 0.89, 1.08) for PM₁₀; 1.01 (CI: 0.94, 1.09) for ozone. In the London sub-sample (39 dementia cases), a 10 μg/m³ increase in PM₁₀ was found to be associated with increased risk of dementia by 16%, although not statistically significant (HR: 1.16; CI: 0.90, 1.48), and the magnitude of effect for PM_2.5 increased, whilst NO₂ and ozone exhibited similar associations as observed in the England-wide study. Further work is required to fully elucidate the potentially adverse associations between air pollution exposure and dementia incidence. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mental Health Consequences of Air and Noise Pollution)

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Review

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25 pages, 4884 KiB

Open AccessReview

Association between Noise Annoyance and Mental Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

by Xiangpu Gong, Benjamin Fenech, Claire Blackmore, Yingxin Chen, Georgia Rodgers, John Gulliver and Anna L. Hansell

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(5), 2696; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052696 - 25 Feb 2022

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 4851

Abstract

To date, most studies of noise and mental health have focused on noise exposure rather than noise annoyance. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate whether the available evidence supports an adverse association between noise annoyance and mental health problems in people. We carried out a literature search of Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, and conference proceedings published between 2000 and 2022. Thirteen papers met the inclusion criteria. We conducted meta-analyses of noise annoyance in relation to depression, anxiety, and general mental health. In the meta-analyses, we found that depression was approximately 1.23 times greater in those who were highly noise-annoyed (N = 8 studies). We found an approximately 55% higher risk of anxiety (N = 6) in highly noise-annoyed people. For general mental health (N = 5), highly annoyed participants had an almost 119% increased risk of mental health problems as assessed by Short Form (SF) or General Household Questionnaires (GHQ), but with high heterogeneity and risk of publication bias. In conclusion, findings are suggestive of a potential link between noise annoyance and poorer mental health based on a small number of studies. More evidence is needed to confirm these findings. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mental Health Consequences of Air and Noise Pollution)

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