Air pollution amplifies relationship between poor mental health, poor heart health
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Key takeaways:
- Areas with high air pollution have a stronger link between poor mental health and early death from heart disease.
- Some of the risk for CV death related to air pollution can be explained by poor mental health.
Air pollution accentuates the relationship between poor mental health and premature mortality from heart disease in the United States, researchers reported at ESC Preventive Cardiology 2024.
“Our study indicates that the air we breathe affects our mental well-being, which in turn impacts heart health,” presenter Shady Abohashem, MD, MPH, instructor in cardiovascular research at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, said in a press release.
Given that chronic exposure to air pollution is associated with poor mental health, and poor mental health is associated with premature CV mortality, especially in areas with high exposure to air pollution, Abohashem and colleagues hypothesized that poor mental health would partly mediate the relationship between air pollution and premature CV mortality.
The researchers analyzed county-level CDC data on annual levels of fine particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 m (PM2.5) or less; county-level CDC data of residents with poor mental health (defined as depression, stress and emotional problems), stratified into tertiles; and county-level CDC data on age-adjusted premature CV mortality (defined as CV death at younger than 65 years).
The data represented 315,720,938 participants from 3,047 counties in 2013 who were followed until 2019. During the study period, 0.34% of participants died prematurely of CV causes.
During the study period, counties with high air pollution were 10% more likely to report days with poor mental health compared with counties with low air pollution, according to the researchers.
In addition, they found, counties with high air pollution had a stronger link between poor mental health and premature CV death than counties with low air pollution (P for interaction < .001). The same was true for ischemic heart disease mortality (P for interaction < .001) and hypertension mortality (P for interaction = .019), but not stroke mortality (P for interaction = .4).
Abohashem and colleagues also found that 33.9% of the risk for premature CV mortality related to air pollution could be explained by poor mental health.
“Our results reveal a dual threat from air pollution: It not only worsens mental health but also significantly amplifies the risk of heart-related deaths associated with poor mental health,” Abohashem said in the release. “Public health strategies are urgently needed to address both air quality and mental well-being in order to preserve cardiovascular health.”
Reference:
- Air pollution and depression linked with heart disease deaths in middle-aged adults. https://www.escardio.org/The-ESC/Press-Office/Press-releases/Air-pollution-and-depression-linked-with-heart-disease-deaths-in-middle-aged-adults. Published April 26, 2024. Accessed April 26, 2024.
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Abohashem S, et al. Young Investigators Award - Population science and public health. Presented at: ESC Preventive Cardiology; April 25-27, 2024; Athens, Greece.
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