94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.
Find out more
ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Environmental Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1573556
Atmospheric Carbon Monoxide and Hospitalization for Mental and Behavioral Disorders: Insights from a Longitudinal Study in Shijiazhuang
Provisionally accepted- The First hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Carbon monoxide (CO), a prevalent environmental pollutant, has been implicated in adverse mental health outcomes, but the mechanistic relationship between atmospheric CO levels and hospital admissions for mental and behavioral disorders remains unclear. This study investigates the epidemiological link between atmospheric CO and hospitalizations for mental health conditions in Shijiazhuang, China.Clinical data from patients hospitalized with mental and behavioral disorders at The First Hospital of Hebei Medical University between January 2014 and December 2020 were analyzed.Daily atmospheric CO levels, temperature, and relative humidity were concurrently monitored. A generalized additive model (GAM) was used to explore the correlation between CO levels and hospital admissions. Blood samples from patients with depressive disorders were analyzed for MAPK3 expression, and a mouse model of CO-induced depression was employed to further explore the molecular mechanisms.A total of 15,890 hospitalization records were included. A significant positive correlation was identified between CO levels and the number of daily hospitalizations, with the strongest effects observed when CO concentrations exceeded 40 μg/m³. This association was most pronounced in males and individuals aged over 45, as well as during both warm and cold seasons. A twopollutant model confirmed CO as a major factor affecting hospitalizations, independent of other pollutants like nitric oxide and sulfur dioxide. Additionally, elevated MAPK3 expression was found in the blood samples of depressed patients, and treatment with the MAPK inhibitor PD98059 alleviated CO-induced depression in a mouse model.This study provides compelling evidence for a significant association between atmospheric CO and hospitalizations for mental and behavioral disorders. The findings suggest that CO exposure may exacerbate mental health conditions, particularly in vulnerable populations. These insights underline the importance of air quality management and highlight potential pathways for therapeutic interventions targeting CO-induced mental health disorders.
Keywords: Carbon Monoxide, Air Pollution, Mental Health, Hospitalization, MAPK3, Behavioral disorders, Epidemiology
Received: 09 Feb 2025; Accepted: 14 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hu, Lu, Gao, Li, Yang, Yin, Dong, Ren and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xueyi Wang, The First hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.