ArticleBMC public health2021
Association between urban environment and mental health in Brussels, Belgium.
Article in BMC public health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 5 of them syntheses 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
30 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 106 citations in OpenAlex.
- Does the biodiversity of urban green spaces impact on human health? A systematic review of literature.BMC public health · 2026Pooled it
- Determinants and relationships of climate change, climate change hazards, mental health, and well-being: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Is exposure to chemical pollutants associated with sleep outcomes? A systematic review.Sleep medicine reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Air pollution, depressive and anxiety disorders, and brain effects: A systematic review.Neurotoxicology · 2022Pooled it
- Recent Techniques in Determining the Effects of Climate Change on Depressive Patients: A Systematic Review.Journal of environmental and public health · 2022Pooled it
- An exploratory study of anxiety symptoms and associated factors among Kenyan youth recruited from colleges and communities in urban and peri-urban areas in the Nairobi Metropolitan.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Human Circadian Rhythm Through the Lens of GIScience: A Systematic Review.Research square · 2026Article
- Article
- Biophilic Design and Restorative Effects: A Neuropsychological Study of Healthy Indoor Workspaces in Urban Contexts.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Local approach to attributable disease burden: a case study on air pollution and mortality in Belgium.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Urban green spaces and mental health: Findings from Uganda.Hygiene and environmental health advances · 2025Article
- Exploring the relationship between neighborhood walkability and mental health: A study of urban areas in Texas.Heliyon · 2025Article
- Tackling noise pollution in climate adaptation and mitigation: planetary health benefits towards a net-zero future.Oxford open climate change · 2025Article
- Urban built environment and its impact on university students' loneliness: a mechanistic study.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Urban green space, perceived everyday discrimination and mental health among rural-to-urban migrants: a multilevel analysis in Wuhan, China.BMC public health · 2024Article
- The association between urban land use and depressive symptoms in young adulthood: a FinnTwin12 cohort study.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2024Article
- Association of Residential Greenness Exposure with Depression Incidence in Adults 50 Years of Age and Older: Findings from the Cohort Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health (SAGE) in China.Environmental health perspectives · 2024Article
- Impact of air pollution and climate change on mental health outcomes: an umbrella review of global evidence.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2024Article
- Relationship between Environmental Conditions and Utilisation of Community-Based Mental Health Care: A Comparative Study before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Green spaces exposure and the risk of common psychiatric disorders: A meta-analysis.SSM - population health · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMental health disorders appear as a growing problem in urban areas. While common mental health disorders are generally linked to demographic and socioeconomic factors, little is known about the interaction with the urban environment. With growing urbanization, more and more people are exposed to environmental stressors potentially contributing to increased stress and impairing mental health. It is therefore important to identify features of the urban environment that affect the mental health of city dwellers. The aim of this study was to define associations of combined long-term exposure to air pollution, noise, surrounding green at different scales, and building morphology with several dimensions of mental health in Brussels.
methodsResearch focuses on the inhabitants of the Brussels Capital Region older than 15 years. The epidemiological study was carried out based on the linkage of data from the national health interview surveys (2008 and 2013) and specifically developed indicators describing each participant's surroundings in terms of air quality, noise, surrounding green, and building morphology. These data are based on the geographical coordinates of the participant's residence and processed using Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Mental health status was approached through several validated indicators: the Symptom Checklist-90-R subscales for depressive, anxiety and sleeping disorders and the 12-Item General Health Questionnaire for general well-being. For each mental health outcome, single and multi-exposure models were performed through multivariate logistic regressions.
resultsOur results suggest that traffic-related air pollution (black carbon, NO
conclusionsThese findings have important implications because most of the Brussel's population resides in areas where particulate matters concentrations are above the World Health Organization guidelines. This suggests that policies aiming to reduce traffic related-air pollution could also reduce the burden of depressive disorders in Brussels.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.