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Brown University Study Finds Link Between Depression and
Household Mold
A groundbreaking public health study, led by Brown
University epidemiologist Edmond Shenassa, has found a connection between
damp, moldy homes and depression. Results are published in the American
Journal of Public Health. August 29, 2007
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A
groundbreaking public health study has found a connection between damp,
moldy homes and depression. The study, led by Brown University
epidemiologist Edmond Shenassa, is the largest investigation of an
association between mold and mood and is the first such investigation
conducted outside the United Kingdom.
Shenassa said the findings, published in the American
Journal of Public Health, came as a complete surprise. In fact, after a
few U.K. studies published in the last decade had suggested a link, Shenassa
and his skeptical team set out to debunk the notion that any link existed.
“We thought that once we statistically accounted for factors
that could clearly contribute to depression – things like employment status
and crowding – we would see any link vanish,” said Shenassa, the lead author
of the study and an associate professor in the Department of Community
Health at Brown. “But the opposite was true. We found a solid association
between depression and living in a damp, moldy home.”
Shenassa noted the study, an analysis of data from nearly
6,000 European adults, does not prove that moldy homes cause depression. The
study wasn’t designed to draw that direct conclusion. However, Shenassa’s
team did find a connection, one likely driven by two factors. One factor is
a perceived lack of control over the housing environment. The other is
mold-related health problems such as wheezing, fatigue and a cold or throat
illness.
“Physical health, and perceptions of control, are linked
with an elevated risk for depression,” Shenassa said, “and that makes sense.
If you are sick from mold, and feel you can’t get rid of it, it may affect
your mental health.”
The study was a statistical analysis of data from the Large
Analysis and Review of European Housing and Health Status (LARES), a survey
on housing, health and place of residence conducted in 2002 and 2003 by the
World Health Organization (WHO). To conduct the survey, WHO interviewers
visited thousands of homes in eight European cities and asked residents a
series of questions, including if they had depressive symptoms such as
decreased appetite, low self-esteem, and sleep disturbances. WHO
interviewers also made visual checks of each household, looking for spots on
walls and ceilings that indicate mold.
Shenassa’s team analyzed LARES data from 5,882 adults in
2,982 households.
“What the study makes clear is the importance of housing as
indicator of health, including mental health,” Shenassa said. “Healthy homes
can promote healthy lives.”
Shenassa and his team are conducting follow-up research to
see if mold does, indeed, directly cause depression. Shenassa said that
given the results of the current study, he wouldn’t be surprised if there is
a cause-and-effect association. Molds are toxins, and some research has
indicated that these toxins can affect the nervous system or the immune
system or impede the function of the frontal cortex, the part of the brain
that plays a part in impulse control, memory, problem solving, sexual
behavior, socialization and spontaneity.
The research team includes Allison Liebhaber, a former Brown
undergraduate; Constantine Daskalakis of Thomas Jefferson University;
Matthias Braubach of WHO; and Mary Jean Brown of the Harvard School of
Public Health.
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