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Association of formaldehyde concentration with depression risk in US adults: a population-based epidemiology study

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Abstract

The association of formaldehyde exposure with depression remains unknown. We used the data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2015–2016 to evaluate the association between formaldehyde exposure and depression. Multivariable logistic regressions and restricted cubic spline (RCS) were implemented to examine the association between formaldehyde exposure and depression. A total of 1336 participants were included in the analysis, of which 110 (8.23%) participants were depressed. After adjusting for confounders, a significant association between formaldehyde exposure and depression (OR = 1.01, 95% CI: 1.00–1.02, P = 0.043) was observed. The RCS plot showed a positive association in a linear manner (PNonlinear = 0.109), and the risk began to rise rapidly with concentrations above 129.37 nmol/g HB. The positive association remained in participants with high-intensity physical activity (OR = 1.08, 95% CI: 1.02–1.13, P = 0.003), but not in participants with other physical activities. Moreover, we constructed a novel nomogram to easily estimate the individual-specific probabilities of depression. In conclusion, formaldehyde exposure was associated with an elevated risk of depression, and the effect exhibited differences in participants with different levels of physical activity.

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Data availability

All data used in this study are available on the NHANES website.

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Funding

This study was supported by grants from the Jiangsu Postdoctoral Research Foundation (2020Z146).

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Author notes

  1. Bo Xu and Shijuan Mei contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine and Offspring Health, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 211166, China

    Bo Xu

  2. Department of Women Health Care, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Women’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210004, China

    Shijuan Mei, Wanke Wu, Qi Liu & Kaipeng Xie

  3. Department of Public Health, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Women’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210004, China

    Kaipeng Xie

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  1. Bo Xu
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  2. Shijuan Mei
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Contributions

Kaipeng Xie and Shijuan Mei contributed to the study conception and design. Data collection and analysis were performed by Kaipeng Xie and Bo Xu. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Bo Xu and Kaipeng Xie. Wanke Wu and Qi Liu revised the manuscript critically. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Kaipeng Xie.

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Ethical approval

The Ethics Review Board (ERB) of National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) approved the surveys.

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All the participants signed informed consents and the detailed information are available on the NHANES website.

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Consent was given by all the authors.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Responsible Editor: Lotfi Aleya

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Xu, B., Mei, S., Wu, W. et al. Association of formaldehyde concentration with depression risk in US adults: a population-based epidemiology study. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 98261–98270 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-29290-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-29290-2

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