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Psychological costs of air pollution: Atmospheric conditions, seasonal trends, and psychiatric emergencies

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Abstract

Archival data covering a two-year period were obtained from four sources in order to assess relationships between calls for assistance in handling psychiatric emergencies and levels of air pollution, nine types of weather, four temporal variables, and changes in the economy. Multiple regression and analysis of covariance revealed that police received a disproportionate number of calls when levels of air pollution, especially photochemical oxidants, and temperatures were high. Also, more calls were received on weekdays than weekends and during spring and winter than other months. These results, which are consistent with affective models of social behavior, confirm hypotheses derived from laboratory studies on malodorous pollution. It is suggested that psychiatric emergencies and treatment should be included in costbenefit analyses of air pollution-health relationships.

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Rotton, J., Frey, J. Psychological costs of air pollution: Atmospheric conditions, seasonal trends, and psychiatric emergencies. Popul Environ 7, 3–16 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01257469

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