Risk assessment of temperature and air pollutants on hospitalizations for mental and behavioral disorders in Curitiba, Brazil

Abstract Background Extreme ambient temperatures and air quality have been directly associated with various human diseases from several studies around the world. However, few analyses involving the association of these environmental circumstances with mental and behavioral disorders (MBD) have been carried out, especially in developing countries such as Brazil. Methods A time series study was carried out to explore the associations between daily air pollutants (SO2, NO2, O3, and PM10) concentrations and meteorological variables (temperature and relative humidity) on hospital admissions for mental and behavioral disorders for Curitiba, Brazil. Daily hospital admissions from 2010 to 2016 were analyzed by a semi-parametric generalized additive model (GAM) combined with a distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM). Results Significant associations between environmental conditions (10 μg/m3 increase in air pollutants and temperature °C) and hospitalizations by MBD were found. Air temperature was the environmental variable with the highest relative risk (RR) at 0-day lag for all ages and sexes analyzed, with RR values of 1.0182 (95% CI: 1.0009–1.0357) for men, and 1.0407 (95% CI: 1.0230–1.0587) for women. Ozone exposure was a risk for all women groups, being higher for the young group, with a RR of 1.0319 (95% CI: 1.0165–1.0483). Elderly from both sexes were more susceptible to temperature variability, with a RR of 1.0651 (95% CI: 1.0213–1.1117) for women, and 1.0215 (95% CI: 1.0195–1.0716) for men. Conclusions This study suggests that temperatures above and below the thermal comfort threshold, in addition to high concentrations of air pollutants, present significant risks on hospitalizations by MBD; besides, there are physiological and age differences resulting from the effect of this exposure. Graphical abstract