The association between short-term ambient air pollution and daily outpatient visits for schizophrenia: A hospital-based study

Schizophrenia is a devastating neuropsychiatric disorder with increasing concern. Limited studies have been conducted to assess the relationship between short-term exposure to ambient air pollution and schizophrenia attacks. This study aimed to investigate the associations between short-term air pollution exposure and schizophrenia outpatient visits based on a time-series study performed in China. Daily data of schizophrenia outpatient admissions and air pollution from 1 October 2010 to 31 December 2013 were collected in Xi'an, a heavily-polluted city in China. We utilized a time-series Poisson regression model to examine the associations between short-term air pollution and schizophrenia outpatient visits with different lag days. A total of 34,865 outpatient-visits for schizophrenia were identified. A 10 mu g/m(3) increase of PM10, SO2, and NO2 concentrations corresponded to 0.289% (95% Cl: 0.118%, 0.460%), 1.374% (95% Cl: 0.723%, 2.025%), and 1.881% (95% Cl: 0.957%, 2.805%) elevation in outpatient-visits for schizophrenia at lag 0, and the associations appeared to be stronger, although not statistically significantly, in females and in middle and older age adults (40 and over). The most significant associations were observed on the concurrent day in different lag models. In conclusion, short-term exposure to ambient air pollution (PM10, SO2, and NO2) can be associated with increased risk of daily outpatient visits for schizophrenia, which may contribute to the further understanding of the potential adverse effects of air pollution in schizophrenia and other neuropsychiatric disorders. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

精神分裂症是一种日益受到关注的毁灭性神经精神障碍。评估短期暴露于环境空气污染与精神分裂症发作之间关系的研究有限。本研究旨在基于在中国进行的一项时间序列研究，调查短期空气污染暴露与精神分裂症门诊就诊之间的关联。收集了2010年10月1日至2013年12月31日中国污染严重的城市西安的精神分裂症门诊入院及空气污染的每日数据。我们利用时间序列泊松回归模型，研究了不同滞后天数下短期空气污染与精神分裂症门诊就诊之间的关联。共确定了34865例精神分裂症门诊就诊病例。在滞后0天，PM10、SO₂和NO₂浓度每增加10μg/m³，精神分裂症门诊就诊人数分别增加0.289%（95%置信区间：0.118%，0.460%）、1.374%（95%置信区间：0.723%，2.025%）和1.881%（95%置信区间：0.957%，2.805%），并且在女性以及中老年（40岁及以上）人群中，这种关联似乎更强，尽管在统计学上不显著。在不同的滞后模型中，在当天的关联最为显著。总之，短期暴露于环境空气污染（PM10、SO₂和NO₂）可能与精神分裂症每日门诊就诊风险增加有关，这可能有助于进一步了解空气污染对精神分裂症及其他神经精神障碍的潜在不良影响。（C）2018爱思唯尔有限公司。保留所有权利。