Ambient Air Pollution and Hospitalizations for Schizophrenia in China

Schizophrenia episodes may be triggered by short-term environmental stimuli. Short-term increases in ambient air pollution levels may elevate the risk of schizophrenia episodes, yet few epidemiologic studies have examined this association.

To investigate whether short-term increases in air pollution levels are associated with an additional risk of schizophrenia episodes, independent of absolute air pollution concentrations, and whether sustained increases in air pollution levels for several days are associated with more pronounced risks of schizophrenia episodes.

This nationwide, population-based, time-stratified case-crossover study was performed based on hospitalization records for schizophrenia across 295 administrative divisions of prefecture-level or above cities in China. Records were extracted from 2 major health insurance systems from January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2017. Thirty-six cities with a small number of schizophrenia hospitalizations (n < 50) were excluded. Data analysis for this study was performed from January to March 2024.

Daily absolute concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), inhalable particulate matter (PM10), nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, ozone, and carbon monoxide were collected. Air pollution increases between neighboring days (APINs) were generated as the differences in absolute air pollution concentrations on the current day minus that on the previous day. Sustained increases (APIN ≥5 μg/m3 for PM2.5 and PM10, APIN ≥1 μg/m3 for nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide, and APIN ≥0.05 mg/m3 for carbon monoxide) lasting for 1 or more to 4 or more days were defined for different air pollutants.

Patients with schizophrenia episodes were identified by principal discharge diagnoses of schizophrenia. A conditional logistic regression model was used to capture the associations of absolute concentrations, APINs, and sustained increase events for different air pollutants with risks of schizophrenia hospitalizations.

The study included 817 296 hospitalization records for schizophrenia across 259 Chinese cities (30.6% aged 0-39 years, 56.4% aged 40-64 years, and 13.0% aged ≥65 years; 55.04% male). After adjusting for the absolute concentrations of respective air pollutants, per-IQR increases in 6-day moving average (lag0-5) APINs of PM2.5, PM10, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and carbon monoxide were associated with increases of 2.37% (95% CI, 0.88%-3.88%), 2.95% (95% CI, 1.46%-4.47%), 4.61% (95% CI, 2.93%-6.32%), 2.16% (95% CI, 0.59%-3.76%), and 2.02% (95% CI, 0.39%-3.68%) in schizophrenia hospitalizations, respectively. Greater risks of schizophrenia hospitalizations were associated with sustained increases in air pollutants lasting for longer durations up to 4 or more days.

This case-crossover study of the association between ambient air pollution increases and schizophrenia hospitalizations provides novel evidence that short-term increases in ambient air pollution levels were positively associated with an elevated risk of schizophrenia episodes. Future schizophrenia prevention practices should pay additional attention to APINs, especially sustained increases in air pollution levels for longer durations, besides the absolute air pollution concentrations.