Observational studyBMJ open2016
Association between neighbourhood air pollution concentrations and dispensed medication for psychiatric disorders in a large longitudinal cohort of Swedish children and adolescents.
Observational study in BMJ open, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 103 citations in OpenAlex.
- Determinants and relationships of climate change, climate change hazards, mental health, and well-being: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Neighborhood Characteristics and Mental Health From Childhood to Adolescence.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Psychological repercussions of PM air pollution in human aging: a comprehensive review of urban and rural environments.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Review
- Air and Noise Pollution Exposure in Early Life and Mental Health From Adolescence to Young Adulthood.JAMA network open · 2024Article
- Association between prenatal and childhood PMEnvironmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2024Article
- Particulate Matter in Human Elderly: Higher Susceptibility to Cognitive Decline and Age-Related Diseases.Biomolecules · 2023Review
- Neurotoxicants, the Developing Brain, and Mental Health.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2022Article
- Report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change: implications for the mental health policy of children and adolescents in Europe-a scoping review.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2022Article
- Evaluating physical urban features in several mental illnesses using electronic health record data.Frontiers in digital health · 2022Article
- The wellbeing of adolescents and the role of greenness: A cross-sectional study among Italian students.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Mental health consequences of urban air pollution: prospective population-based longitudinal survey.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2021Article
- Childhood exposure to ambient air pollution and predicting individual risk of depression onset in UK adolescents.Journal of psychiatric research · 2021Article
- Association of Air Pollution Exposure in Childhood and Adolescence With Psychopathology at the Transition to Adulthood.JAMA network open · 2021Article
- Long-term PMThe Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2021Article
- Environmental Risk Factors for Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder and Their Relationship to Genetic Risk: Current Knowledge and Future Directions.Frontiers in genetics · 2021Review
- Brain Disorders and Chemical Pollutants: A Gap Junction Link?Biomolecules · 2020Review
- Associations between perceived environmental pollution and health-related quality of life in a Chinese adult population.Health and quality of life outcomes · 2020Article
- Air Pollution and Emergency Department Visits for Mental Disorders among Youth.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Air pollutants and daily number of admissions to psychiatric emergency services: evidence for detrimental mental health effects of ozone.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2019Article
- lifetime exposure to traffic-related air pollution and symptoms of depression and anxiety at age 12 years.Environmental research · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo investigate associations between exposure to air pollution and child and adolescent mental health.
designObservational study.
settingSwedish National Register data on dispensed medications for a broad range of psychiatric disorders, including sedative medications, sleeping pills and antipsychotic medications, together with socioeconomic and demographic data and a national land use regression model for air pollution concentrations for NO2, PM10 and PM2.5.
participantsThe entire population under 18 years of age in 4 major counties. We excluded cohort members whose parents had dispensed a medication in the same medication group since the start date of the register. The cohort size was 552 221.
main outcome measuresCox proportional hazards models to estimate HRs and their 95% CIs for the outcomes, adjusted for individual-level and group-level characteristics.
resultsThe average length of follow-up was 3.5 years, with an average number of events per 1000 cohort members of ∼21. The mean annual level of NO2 was 9.8 µg/m(3). Children and adolescents living in areas with higher air pollution concentrations were more likely to have a dispensed medication for a psychiatric disorder during follow-up (HR=1.09, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.12, associated with a 10 µg/m(3) increase in NO2). The association with NO2 was clearly present in 3 out of 4 counties in the study area; however, no statistically significant heterogeneity was detected.
conclusionThere may be a link between exposure to air pollution and dispensed medications for certain psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents even at the relatively low levels of air pollution in the study regions. The findings should be corroborated by others.
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