Association between neighbourhood air pollution concentrations and dispensed medication for psychiatric disorders in a large longitudinal cohort of Swedish children and adolescents.
To investigate associations between exposure to air pollution and child and adolescent mental health.



Observational study.



Swedish 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.



The 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.



Cox proportional hazards models to estimate HRs and their 95% CIs for the outcomes, adjusted for individual-level and group-level characteristics.



The 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.



There 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.
Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Anna
0000-0002-9876-0627
A
Oudin
Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Lennart
L
Bråbäck
Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Daniel Oudin
DO
Åström
Department of Geography and Economic History, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Magnus
M
Strömgren
Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Bertil
B
Forsberg
D000293:Adolescent; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects*; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012923:Social Class; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents
EPIDEMIOLOGY; PUBLIC HEALTH