Ha Hoehun
Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Geography, Auburn University at Montgomery , Montgomery, Alabama.
High Alt Med Biol. 2017 Sep;18(3):258-266. doi: 10.1089/ham.2016.0137. Epub 2017 Jul 13.
Ha, Hoehun. Geographic variation in mentally unhealthy days: air pollution and altitude perspectives. High Alt Med Biol. 18:258-266, 2017.
Mental health incorporates our emotional, psychological, and social well-being and it is critical at each phase of life, from youth and preadulthood through adulthood.
We assessed the association between mentally unhealthy days (MUDs), air pollutant concentrations, and altitude on the basis of cross-county studies. Data on poor mental health days for the United States were based on health-related telephone surveys conducted by the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). Average annual regional air pollution data were obtained from Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) WONDER Environmental data, and altitude data were collected from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
In the data set (across 2589 U.S. counties for 2011), even after accounting for potential confounding variables and multicollinearity, a significant association between altitude, air pollution, and poor mental health days was found, explaining that poor mental health days increase with increasing air pollution concentrations and with decreasing altitude (R = 0.663, p < 0.001). Controlling for socioeconomic (e.g., education and employment) and social (including social relationship and crime) factors did not change these findings.
In this study, we found that counties with lower air pollution and higher altitude had significantly lower average number of MUDs reported within the past 30 days. This association has not been reported before in the literature. These findings suggest a need for further investigation into the extent that air quality and altitude may serve as significant factors for mental health and have major implications in our understanding of the etiology of mental health by medical professionals.
哈，何洪。心理健康不佳天数的地理差异：空气污染与海拔视角。《高海拔医学与生物学》。2017年第18卷：258 - 266页。
心理健康涵盖我们的情感、心理和社会幸福感，在从青少年和成年前到成年的生命各阶段都至关重要。
我们基于跨县研究评估了心理健康不佳天数（MUDs）、空气污染物浓度与海拔之间的关联。美国心理健康不佳天数的数据基于行为风险因素监测系统（BRFSS）进行的与健康相关的电话调查。年平均区域空气污染数据取自疾病控制与预防中心（CDC）的WONDER环境数据，海拔数据则从美国地质调查局（USGS）收集。
在该数据集中（涵盖2011年美国2589个县），即使考虑了潜在的混杂变量和多重共线性，仍发现海拔、空气污染与心理健康不佳天数之间存在显著关联，表明心理健康不佳天数随空气污染浓度增加和海拔降低而增加（R = 0.663，p < 0.001）。控制社会经济（如教育和就业）及社会（包括社会关系和犯罪）因素并未改变这些结果。
在本研究中，我们发现空气污染较低且海拔较高的县在过去30天内报告的MUDs平均数量显著更低。这种关联此前在文献中未曾报道。这些发现表明需要进一步调查空气质量和海拔在多大程度上可能是心理健康的重要因素，并且对医学专业人员理解心理健康病因具有重要意义。
