Air Ozone Effects on Anxiety of Urban Residents in Beijing

Objectives To explore the relationship between air ozone and anxiety in urban residents, and to provide a basis for carrying out mental health intervention.

Methods A Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) was used to investigate the anxiety of residents in a district of Beijing. Monitoring data from the nearest environmental protection monitoring sites and meteorological data from the residential area were recorded during the investigation period. Binary logistic regression model was used to analyze the relationship between air ozone and anxiety in residents.

Results A total of 991 residents in a district of Beijing were investigated. There were 962 effective questionnaires and the effective rate was 97.07%. Anxiety was detected in 122 residents and the detection rate was 12.68%. The result showed that the risk of anxiety increased (OR:1.08, 95%CI:1.03~1.14) with each increase of 10 mg/m³ ozone in the day of exposure and lagged for (1~4) days (lag01-lag04). The biggest effect of air ozone on anxiety was in the lag04 after exposure to ozone (OR:1.30, 95%CI:1.09~1.56).

Conclusions The exposure to air O₃ might be one of risk factors for anxiety in people, but further investigation on the mechanism of anxiety caused by air O₃ was needed.