Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2025 Jan;171:107214. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.107214. Epub 2024 Oct 10.
Exposure to air pollution is associated with higher risk for psychopathology; however, the mechanisms underlying this association are not clear. Dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in response to stress has been implicated in depression. Here, we estimated annual exposure to particulate matter (PM) from diesel emissions in 170 9- to 15-year-old adolescents (56 % female) using their residential addresses and data from nearby monitoring sites. We obtained salivary cortisol samples from participants while they completed a social stress task and calculated area under the curve with respect to ground (AUCg) and with respect to increase (AUCi) in order to assess cortisol responsivity during stress. Participants also reported on their depressive symptoms and sleep disturbances. Greater exposure to diesel PM was associated with lower cortisol output (AUCg) during stress, which was associated with higher depressive symptoms, particularly for adolescents with more sleep disturbances. Importantly, these effects were independent of household and neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and exposure to early adversity. Thus, HPA-axis dysfunction may be one mechanism through which environmental pollutants affect adolescents' mental health.
暴露于空气污染与精神病理学风险增加有关；然而，这种关联的机制尚不清楚。应激时下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴功能障碍与抑郁症有关。在这里，我们使用 170 名 9 至 15 岁青少年（56%为女性）的居住地址和附近监测站点的数据，估算了他们每年因柴油机排放而接触的颗粒物（PM）。在参与者完成社会应激任务时，我们从他们那里获得唾液皮质醇样本，并计算了相对于地面的曲线下面积（AUCg）和相对于增加的曲线下面积（AUCi），以评估应激期间皮质醇的反应性。参与者还报告了他们的抑郁症状和睡眠障碍。在应激期间，接触更多柴油机 PM 与皮质醇输出（AUCg）降低有关，这与更高的抑郁症状有关，特别是对于睡眠障碍更多的青少年而言。重要的是，这些影响独立于家庭和社区的社会经济劣势以及早期逆境的暴露。因此，HPA 轴功能障碍可能是环境污染物影响青少年心理健康的一种机制。
