The association of air pollutants with hospital outpatient visits for child and adolescence psychiatry in Shenzhen, China.

BACKGROUND: Although exposure to ambient air pollution has been associated with mental disorder, little is known about its potential effects on children and adolescents, especially in Chinese population. We aimed to reveal the relationship of air pollutants with hospital outpatient visits for child and adolescence psychiatry (HOVCAP) in Shenzhen. METHODS: A case-crossover study based on time-series data was applied, and a distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM) was used to evaluate the non-linear and delayed effects of 4 major air pollutants (NO2, PM2.5, SO2 and O3) on HOVCAP. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression was used to control the multicollinearity between covariates and to filter variables. RESULT: A total of 94,660 cases aged 3-18 were collected from 2014 to 2019 in the Mental Health Center of Shenzhen. Results of pollutants at mode value (M0) showed that in the single lag effect result, when the average daily concentration of NO2 at 24 µg/m3, there was a significant effect on HOVCAP over lag 1, lag 4 and lag 5, respectively. The cumulative RR of NO2 M0 value to the outpatient visits were 1.438 (1.137-1.818) over lag 0-2, 1.454 (1.120-1.887) over lag 0-3, 1.466 (1.084-1.982) over lag 0-4, 1.680 (1.199-2.354) over lag 0-5, 1.993 (1.369-2.903) over lag 0-6, and 2.069 (1.372-3.119) over lag 0-7. However, PM2.5, SO2, O3 were not associated with HOVCAP over neither single lag effects nor cumulative effects. The RR values both shown an increase either when NO2 increases by 10 units or when the maximum concentration of NO2 is reached. CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that exposure to the normal air quality of NO2 in Shenzhen may associated with the risk of HOVCAP. However, PM2.5, SO2, O3 were not associated with HOVCAP.

A follow-up study on the post-traumatic stress disorders among middle school students in Wenchuan earthquake region / 中华预防医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>This study was to identify the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) changes and the relative risk factors within one year after Wenchuan earthquake among middle school students in the disaster area.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 1966 students from 3 schools in Wenchuan earthquake region were selected as the target population. For each student, personal basic information and standard psychological scale (PCL-C, PSSS) were investigated by a self-administrated questionnaire in the 3rd, the 6th, the 9th and the 12th month after the earthquake, respectively. PTSD trends over the time and the associated risk factors were analyzed through the establishment of multi-level random coefficient model.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There were 1677 middle school students fully participated in the PTSD follow-up study by turning in the valid questionnaires. The averaged scores of PTSD at the time of the 3rd, the 6th, the 9th and the 12th month after the earthquake were 35.14 ± 11.08, 32.90 ± 11.03, 30.67 ± 11.28 and 29.75 ± 11.22, respectively. Meanwhile, the general incidences of PTSD were 36.6% (613/1677), 30.7% (515/1677), 24.8% (416/1677)and 22.2% (373/1677), respectively. The median score of perceived social support system was 60.00 and the general incidences of PSS was 17.20% (289/1677). The PTSD scores for the students had a decreasing trend during the period of our observation (β(time) = -1.879, χ(2) = 47.03, P < 0.05). The averaged scores for boys for the 4 follow-up studies were 33.71, 31.61, 29.66, 28.83; for girls were 36.33, 33.98, 31.51, 30.52; for junior school students were 35.46, 33.28, 30.18, 29.22; for senior school students were 34.89, 32.62, 31.04, 30.15. Moreover, two factors, gender and grade, were related with the decreasing trend (the trend for girls and senior school students was sharper than that for boys and junior school students) (β(gender-time) = -0.354, χ(2) = 4.83, P < 0.05; β(grade-time) = 0.622, χ(2) = 11.30, P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The prevalence of PTSD was high. Meanwhile, there was a trend of self-recovery for adolescent's PTSD during the first year of post-earthquake, but boys and junior school students recovered more slowly.</p>

A study of Kaschin-Beck disease perception among residents in Aba Kaschin-Beck disease areas in 2009 / 中国地方病学杂志

Objective To find out the perception status of Kaschin-Beck disease(KBD)-related knowledge among residents in Aba KBD areas. Methods In 2009, hierarchical clustering random sampling method was used to select 13 villages as survey points in Aba KBD areas, general demographic characteristics, KBD prevalence and KBD-related knowledge of residents were investigated. Results Of the residents investigated, the understanding rate of KBD-related knowledge was 36.7% (7361/20 080), understanding rate among female [40.2% (4427/11012) ]was high than that of male[32.3%(2934/9084), x2 = 134.80, P ＜ 0.05];50-year group[42.5%(2789/6562] was higher than others;Tibetan [42.8% (6775/15829)] was higher than other nationals;residents in Semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral areas [47.2% (5777/12239)] was higher than people in other areas ;farmer [42.6% (4585/10762) ],people who lost labor ability [42.7% (1487/3482)] and the unemployed [42.8% (941/2199) ] was higher;married people[41.6%(6067/14584)] was higher;KBD patients[47.6%(4585/9632)] was higher[x2 = 92.41,148.04,578.56,116.35,36.96,371.29 respectively, all P ＜ 0.05]. Sixty three point nine persent (978/1530) acquired KBD knowledge through explaination by medical and health personnel. Conclusions The current situation of perception of KBD-related knowledge among residents in Aba KBD areas is not optimistic. Understanding rate among residents with different demographic characteristics is significantly different. Targeted health education strategies and measures should be developed among different population groups.