Helmut-Schmidt University, Holstenhofweg, Hamburg, Germany; Hamburg Institute of International Economics, Hamburg, Germany.
Lancet Planet Health. 2024 May;8(5):e285-e296. doi: 10.1016/S2542-5196(24)00023-8.
An increasing body of research has examined the link between biodiversity of birds and human mental health, but most studies only use cross-sectional data. Few studies have used longitudinal or repeated cross-sectional data to investigate the mental health benefits of bird diversity. The aim of this study is to analyse the relationship between bird diversity and mental health at the national level using a unique repeated cross-sectional dataset.
I used repeated cross-sectional health data from the German National Cohort health study, collected between March, 2014, and September, 2019, and annual bird citizen science data to investigate the effects of bird-diversity exposure on mental health. Mental health was measured using the summary score of the Patient Health Questionnaire depression module 9 (SumPHQ) and the Short Form Health Survey-12 Mental Health Component Scale. As a proxy for bird diversity, I created a unique indicator called reporting-rate richness and combined it with the health data. Reporting-rate richness measures the number of bird species within postcode areas across Germany in probabilities while accounting for variation in survey efforts. Alternative indicators of bird diversity, such as bird-species richness or abundance, were also calculated. Associations between bird diversity and mental health were estimated using linear regression with region and time fixed effects, adjusted for a range of sociodemographic and environmental confounders and spatial autocorrelation. Interaction terms between income levels and reporting-rate richness were also analysed to examine the moderating effect of socioeconomic status.
I did the analyses for an unbalanced (n=176 362) and balanced (n=125 423) dataset, with the balanced dataset comprising only regions (postcode areas) in which health data were available for each year. The linear fixed-effects regression analysis indicated a significant negative association between reporting-rate richness and SumPHQ, as observed in both the unbalanced dataset (β -0·02, p=0·017) and the balanced dataset (β -0·03, p=0·0037). Similarly, regression results with both datasets showed a positive relationship between reporting-rate richness and Mental Health Component Scale (MCS; unbalanced β 0·02, p=0·0086; balanced β 0·03, p=0·0018). The moderator analyses revealed a significant influence of socioeconomic status on the relationship between reporting-rate richness and mental health. The robustness of these findings was confirmed through sensitivity analyses.
The results suggest that a greater likelihood of having many different bird species in a person's area of residence might positively contribute to mental health, especially for people with lower socioeconomic status. These findings could have implications for biodiversity conservation and health policy decisions, as governments are facing challenges such as global biodiversity loss and growing public mental health problems.
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越来越多的研究探讨了鸟类生物多样性与人类心理健康之间的联系，但大多数研究仅使用了横断面数据。很少有研究使用纵向或重复横断面数据来调查鸟类多样性对心理健康的益处。本研究旨在使用独特的重复横断面数据集，在国家层面分析鸟类多样性与心理健康之间的关系。
本研究使用了德国国家队列健康研究在 2014 年 3 月至 2019 年 9 月间收集的重复横断面健康数据和年度鸟类公民科学数据，以调查鸟类多样性暴露对心理健康的影响。使用患者健康问卷抑郁模块 9（SumPHQ）的总分和健康调查-12 项心理健康成分量表来衡量心理健康。作为鸟类多样性的替代指标，本研究创建了一个独特的指标，称为报告率丰富度，并将其与健康数据相结合。报告率丰富度衡量了德国邮政编码区域内的鸟类物种数量，同时考虑了调查工作的变化。还计算了其他鸟类多样性指标，如鸟类物种丰富度或丰度。使用线性回归模型，结合区域和时间固定效应，调整了一系列社会人口和环境混杂因素以及空间自相关，来估计鸟类多样性与心理健康之间的关联。还分析了收入水平与报告率丰富度之间的交互项，以检验社会经济地位的调节作用。
本研究对不平衡（n=176362）和平衡（n=125423）数据集进行了分析，平衡数据集仅包括每年健康数据可用的地区（邮政编码区域）。线性固定效应回归分析表明，报告率丰富度与 SumPHQ 之间存在显著负相关，在不平衡数据集（β -0·02，p=0·017）和平衡数据集（β -0·03，p=0·0037）中均有观察到。同样，两个数据集的回归结果均显示报告率丰富度与心理健康成分量表（MCS；不平衡β 0·02，p=0·0086；平衡β 0·03，p=0·0018）之间存在正相关关系。调节分析显示，社会经济地位对报告率丰富度与心理健康之间的关系有显著影响。敏感性分析证实了这些发现的稳健性。
研究结果表明，一个人居住区域内有更多不同鸟类物种的可能性可能对心理健康有积极影响，尤其是对社会经济地位较低的人。这些发现可能对生物多样性保护和卫生政策决策具有重要意义，因为政府正面临着全球生物多样性丧失和公众心理健康问题日益严重等挑战。
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