Effects of Urban Chemical and Non-Chemical Stressors on Preadolescent Mental Health

项目总结 焦虑和抑郁是高度衰弱的精神健康疾病，起源于早期生活，使 对儿童和青少年的研究是一项至关重要的公共卫生需求.这两种疾病在这里的流行率 在过去十年中，年龄组迅速增加，特别是在城市地区。 儿童和青少年精神健康障碍仍然知之甚少，比起仅仅 几十年来，更多的是环境原因，而不是遗传因素。我们认为非化学应激源(噪音、 暴力、负性生活事件和邻里环境)在城市环境中起着重要作用 并与表现出强烈城乡梯度的环境因素相互作用，如空气污染。这个 空气污染的神经认知毒性在动物和流行病学研究中得到了广泛的研究，但 它在焦虑和抑郁中的作用还知之甚少，只有几项针对成年人的研究，甚至更少。 更年轻的人群。此外，空气污染影响大脑的机制很差。 理解，尽管下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺(HPA)轴的功能改变及其在 调节皮质醇的分泌是首选方案。这项研究将确定早期生命PM2.5和非PM2.5 化学应激源影响青春期前/儿童后期抑郁和焦虑症状 皮质醇是否调节和/或改变这些关系。 在墨西哥城建立纵向生育队列--肥胖、生长、 环境和社会压力(进步)。具体地说，我们将检查特定时间和累积时间 PM2.5暴露与8-11岁儿童心理健康结果的关系(目标1)，个人和 城市非化学应激源与心理健康症状的关系(目标2)，以及头发的作用 从PM2.5到精神健康症状的生物途径上的皮质醇水平(目标3)。 综合表征环境流行病学中的城市应激源，并评估其对 青春期前的心理健康，我将交叉培训儿童和青少年精神病理学，并加强我的 具备地理空间建模的技能。我还将培训高级统计混合和因果调解，以 更好地描述从PM2.5和压力到心理健康结果的生物学途径。我会把这些冲洗出来 通过教学培训、独立学习和来自发展方面专家的指导而获得的技能 心理学、儿科学、地理学、社会流行病学和生物统计学，特别是罗莎琳德·赖特博士， 罗伯特·赖特、伊泰·克鲁格、丹尼尔·克莱恩和布伦特·库尔。在这个训练期结束时，我将是唯一的 旨在更全面地研究多种城市压力源对心理健康的影响 未来研究的成果。此外，我将在将来使用所学到的知识和我开发的噪声模型 助学金，为我研究化学和非化学影响的长期目标奠定了基础 城市环境中的压力源对整个生命过程中的大脑发育和心理健康结果的影响。

PROJECT SUMMARY Anxiety and depression are highly debilitating mental health disorders with origins in early life, making research in children and adolescents a critical public health need. The prevalence of both disorders in this age group has rapidly increased over the past decade, particularly in urban areas. Though the etiologies of child and adolescent mental health disorders remain poorly understood, increasing trends over mere decades point to environmental causes more than genetics. We propose that non-chemical stressors (noise, violence, negative life events, and neighborhood environment) in the urban environment play a major role and interact with environmental factors that show strong urban-rural gradients, such as air pollution. The neurocognitive toxicity of air pollution has been intensely studied in animal and epidemiologic research but its role in anxiety and depression is poorly understood, with only a few studies in adults, and even less in younger populations. Further, the mechanisms by which air pollution impacts the brain are poorly understood, although altered functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and its role in regulating cortisol secretion is a prime candidate. This study will determine whether early life PM2.5 and non- chemical stressors impact symptoms of depression and anxiety in preadolescence/ late childhood and whether cortisol mediates and/or modifies these relationships. We will leverage resources from an established longitudinal birth cohort in Mexico City - Programming Research in Obesity, Growth, Environment and Social Stress (PROGRESS). Specifically, we will examine time-specific and cumulative PM2.5 exposure in relation to mental health outcomes in 8-11 year olds (Aim 1), the role of individual and combined urban non-chemical stressors in relation to mental health symptoms (Aim 2), and the role of hair cortisol levels on the biological pathway from PM2.5 to mental health symptoms (Aim 3). In order to more comprehensively characterize urban stressors in environmental epidemiology and assess their impacts on mental health in preadolescents, I will cross-train in child and adolescent psychopathology and enhance my skills in geospatial modeling. I will additionally train in advanced statistical mixtures and causal mediation to better characterize biological pathways from PM2.5 and stress to mental health outcomes. I will develop these skills through didactic training, independent study, and mentorship from experts in developmental psychology, pediatrics, geography, social epidemiology, and biostatistics, specifically - Drs. Rosalind Wright, Robert Wright, Itai Kloog, Daniel Klein, and Brent Coull. At the end of this training period, I will be uniquely positioned to more comprehensively examine the effectsof multiple urban stressors on mental health outcomes in future research. Further, I will use the knowledge gained and the noise model I develop in future grants, setting the stage for my long-term goal of studying the effects of chemical and non-chemical stressors in the urban environment on brain development and mental health outcomes across the life course.