A review of progress in research of relationship between air pollution and perinatal depression

Abstract

In recent years, the increasing incidence of perinatal depression has become an important public health problem. In addition to the traditional social demographic factors, biological factors, obstetric factors, etc., the association between air pollution and perinatal depression (PND) has also attracted more and more attention. In this paper, studies on the association between air pollution and PND were reviewed, especially the associations of PND with ambient air pollutants such as PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and O3 as well as indoor air pollutants such as tobacco smoke, and the characteristics and possible biological mechanisms of the influence of different pollutants on PND were summarized. Based on the available studies, various outdoor air pollutants are associated with PND, and some pollutants may exhibit a dose-response relationship with it. As for indoor air pollution, studies only have focused on the impact of tobacco exposure on PND, and as yet, no study has explored the association between other indoor pollutants (e.g. cooking oil smoke and solid fuel) and PND. Current studies indicate that air pollution may act on PND through oxidative stress and neuroendocrine mechanisms, but the exact biological mechanism remains to be further studied. In the future, further studies should be encouraged on the epidemiological associations of other indoor air pollutants with PND and the interactions between other factors and air pollution on PND, and the underlying biological mechanisms, to provide new insights for the prevention of PND from the perspective of environmental health.

Keywords

• perinatal depression
• ambient air pollution
• indoor air pollution
• tobacco smoke exposure