What is the association between long-term exposure to multiple ambient air pollutants and all-cause and cause-specific mortality from both physical and mental illnesses?
Long-term exposure, studied in 202,237 individuals (Environ Res 2023, PMID 37793592) — mortality from mental and behavioral disorders was associated with a 1.042 higher hazard per 1 μg/m3 increase in SO2. Scope: 202,237 individuals, and the abstract states no limitations.
Source: Environ Res 2023, PMID 37793592 ↗ · Research map · How Magellan grades evidence · evidence confidence: medium
Environ Res · 2023 · PMID 37793592 · DOI 10.1016/j.envres.2023.117223
Long-term exposure to common air pollutants is linked to increased mortality from various physical and mental health conditions.
The question
What is the association between long-term exposure to multiple ambient air pollutants and all-cause and cause-specific mortality from both physical and mental illnesses?
What they tested
The study implicitly hypothesizes that long-term exposure to air pollutants is associated with increased all-cause and cause-specific mortality, including mental/behavioral health outcomes.
How they did it
This study used individual-level administrative data from the Scottish Longitudinal Study (SLS) for 202,237 individuals aged 17 and older, followed between 2002 and 2017. The SLS dataset was linked to annual concentrations of NO2, SO2, PM10, and PM2.5 pollution at 1 km2 spatial resolution using residential postcodes. Survival analysis was applied to assess the association between air pollution and all-cause, cardiovascular, respiratory, cancer, mental/behavioral disorders/suicides, and other-causes mortality.
What they found
Higher all-cause mortality was associated with increasing concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and SO2. NO2, PM10, and PM2.5 were also associated with cardiovascular, respiratory, cancer, and other-causes mortality. Specifically, the mortality hazard from respiratory diseases increased by 1.062 per 1 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5, 1.025 per 1 μg/m3 increase in PM10, and 1.013 per 1 μg/m3 increase in NO2. Mortality from mental and behavioral disorders was associated with a 1.042 higher hazard per 1 μg/m3 increase in SO2.
| PM2.5 | 1.062 | |
|---|---|---|
| PM10 | 1.025 | |
| NO2 | 1.013 |
This chart shows the hazard ratio for respiratory disease mortality per 1 μg/m3 increase in specific air pollutants.
What it means
The study revealed an association between long-term (16-year) exposure to ambient air pollution and all-cause and cause-specific mortality. The results suggest that policies and interventions to enhance air quality could reduce mortality from cardio-respiratory, cancer, and mental/behavioral disorders in the long term.
Limitations
The abstract does not explicitly state limitations of the study.
Where the published abstract does not list limitations, we say so rather than inventing them. Read the full paper on PubMed before drawing conclusions.
The paper at a glance
| Title | Long-term exposure to air pollution and mortality in Scotland: a register-based individual-level longitudinal study |
|---|---|
| Journal | Environ Res |
| Year | 2023 |
| PMID | 37793592 ↗ |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.envres.2023.117223 ↗ |
| Topic | Environment, air, water & exposures |
Read the source: PubMed record (authors, abstract, full citation) ↗ · Publisher via doi.org ↗
Where Magellan uses this paper
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Air Purification
Randomized controlled trials show that running HEPA particle filtration indoors produces real, rapid exposure reductions and modest health effects: personal PM2.5 fell from 15.5 to 7.4 µg/m³ in one senior-housing trial, with blood pressure about 3 mm Hg lower after three days, and pooled analyses report systolic…
The AllerAir Deep-Bed Carbon Purifier is a portable indoor air cleaner built around a large bed of…
Research describes the compound or intervention studied. It is not a claim about any specific product.
Molecules & mechanisms in this paper
Each of these is named in the paper’s own words above. Open the monograph for the full mechanism and its other citations.
Cite this page
These citations point at this summary. To cite the original paper with its full author list, use the PubMed record or doi.org.
Magellan Longevity. (2026). What is the association between long-term exposure to multiple ambient air pollutants and all-cause and cause-specific mortality from both physical and mental illnesses? [Plain-English summary of Environ Res 2023, PMID 37793592, DOI 10.1016/j.envres.2023.117223]. Magellan Longevity. https://magellanlongevity.com/study/x17.html@misc{magellan_x17,
title = {What is the association between long-term exposure to multiple ambient air pollutants and all-cause and cause-specific mortality from both physical and mental illnesses?},
author = {{Magellan Longevity}},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://magellanlongevity.com/study/x17.html}},
note = {Plain-English summary of PubMed PMID 37793592; DOI 10.1016/j.envres.2023.117223; Environ Res 2023. Reviewed by Gabriel Radu, DO},
urldate = {2026-08-11}
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