| Titre : | Short-Term Ambient Temperature Exposure and Momentary Depressive Symptoms in Older Adults: A GEMA Study Using Distributed Lag Models |
| Auteurs : | Diana Gonzalez Rodriguez ; Ecole des hautes études en santé publique (EHESP) (Rennes, FRA) |
| Type de document : | Mémoire |
| Année de publication : | 2025 |
| Description : | 29p. |
| Langues: | Anglais |
| Classement : | MPH/ (Mémoires MPH à partir de 2024) |
| Mots-clés : | Santé environnementale ; Changement climatique ; Chaleur ; Personne âgée ; Santé mentale ; Etat dépressif |
| Résumé : |
Background: As climate change intensifies, short-term exposure to ambient temperature has emerged as a key environmental determinant of mental health. Older adults are especially vulnerable to thermal stress due to physiological sensitivity and increased risk of mood disorders.
Objectives: This study investigates the relationship between short-term ambient temperature exposure and momentary depressive symptomatology in older adults, with a focus on temporal dynamics. Methods: Using high-resolution GPS and ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data from 216 participants aged 60 and over in the Paris metropolitan area, we employed distributed lag linear models to estimate the effects of immediate and lagged temperature exposure (1–8 hours and 24 hours) on depressive symptomatology. Models were adjusted for questionnaire item, age, sex, education level, employment status, household income, baseline CES-D score, time of day, and season Results: A total of 3,581 EMA questionnaires from 216 older adults yielded 7,197 depressive symptom items for analysis. Distributed lag linear models revealed a consistent positive association between ambient temperature and momentary depressive symptoms. Statistically significant associations were detected during the hour immediately preceding symptom assessment and from lag hours 6 through 24. The estimated effect of a 1°C increase in immediate temperature on depressive symptom scores peaked at lag 7 (β = 0.014; 95% CI: 0.003, 0.025), with slightly attenuated estimates at longer lags. Precision increased with longer exposure windows, reflected in narrower confidence intervals. Models using weighted lag structures yielded stronger and more precise associations than unweighted ones. Sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of findings: estimates were higher among participants with full lag coverage, and results remained directionally consistent when using maximum temperature or adjusting for humidity, though the latter showed no significant effects. Conclusion: Our findings show a positive association between short-term temperature exposure and momentary depressive symptoms in older adults. These results suggest that even moderate ambient temperature increases—below heatwave thresholds—can influence subclinical 4 mood changes. This highlights the importance of integrating temperature-sensitive indicators into mental health surveillance and urban adaptation strategies. Future work should explore nonlinear exposure-response relationships, contextual modifiers such as season and indoor environments, and incorporate other environmental stressors like air pollution to enhance risk prediction and resilience planning. |
| Diplôme : | Master MPH of public health |
| Plan de classement simplifié : | Master of Public Health - master international de Santé Publique (MPH) |
| En ligne : | https://documentation.ehesp.fr/memoires/2025/mph/diana_gonzallez_rodriguez.pdf |
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