Hou Jing, He Yi, Lian Haifeng, Yan Haosen, Li Jialian, Yan Lailai, Huang Wenzhong, Zhang Yiwen, Gao Sen, Sun Hongwei, Lu Peng
School of Public Health, Binzhou Medical University, 346 Guanhai Road, Yantai, 264003, Shandong, China.
Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shanghai, China.
BMC Public Health. 2025 Jul 7;25(1):2405. doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-23522-5.
Given the limited research on the effects of heavy metals on depressive symptoms in young adults and the high prevalence of depression within this age group, it is essential to investigate the potential impact of heavy metals on depressive symptoms.
This study involved 2027 college students from Shandong, China. Blood concentrations of heavy metals were measured, and depressive symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). The Environmental Risk Score (ERS) was used to analyze the relationship between mixed blood heavy metal exposure and depressive symptoms. Sensitivity analyses were conducted using Bayesian Kernel Machine Regression (BKMR) and quantile g-computation (qgcomp) to explore the mixing effect of heavy metals.
A significant positive association was found between ERS and the risk of depressive symptoms. The main effects of silver (Ag), antimony (Sb), tin (Sn), lanthanum (La), and cerium (Ce) were also positively associated with depressive symptoms. Notably, Ce showed an inverted “U”-shaped nonlinear relationship with depressive symptoms risk. La and Ce exhibited antagonistic effects on the increased risk.
In summary, mixed exposure to these five metals may be on the relationship between heavy metal exposure and depressive symptoms in young adults.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-025-23522-5.
鉴于关于重金属对年轻成年人抑郁症状影响的研究有限，且该年龄组抑郁症患病率较高，因此有必要调查重金属对抑郁症状的潜在影响。
本研究纳入了来自中国山东的2027名大学生。测量了血液中重金属的浓度，并使用患者健康问卷-9（PHQ-9）评估抑郁症状。采用环境风险评分（ERS）分析混合血液重金属暴露与抑郁症状之间的关系。使用贝叶斯核机器回归（BKMR）和分位数g计算（qgcomp）进行敏感性分析，以探索重金属的混合效应。
发现ERS与抑郁症状风险之间存在显著正相关。银（Ag）、锑（Sb）、锡（Sn）、镧（La）和铈（Ce）的主要效应也与抑郁症状呈正相关。值得注意的是，Ce与抑郁症状风险呈倒“U”形非线性关系。La和Ce对增加的风险表现出拮抗作用。
总之，这五种金属的混合暴露可能与年轻成年人重金属暴露和抑郁症状之间的关系有关。
在线版本包含可在10.1186/s12889-025-23522-5获取的补充材料。
