Short-term exposure sequences and anxiety symptoms: a time series clustering of smartphone-based mobility trajectories
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Published:2023-10-10
Issue:1
Volume:22
Page:
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ISSN:1476-072X
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Container-title:International Journal of Health Geographics
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language:en
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Short-container-title:Int J Health Geogr
Author:
Lan Yuliang,Helbich Marco
Abstract
Abstract
Background
Short-term environmental exposures, including green space, air pollution, and noise, have been suggested to affect health. However, the evidence is limited to aggregated exposure estimates which do not allow the capture of daily spatiotemporal exposure sequences. We aimed to (1) determine individuals’ sequential exposure patterns along their daily mobility paths and (2) examine whether and to what extent these exposure patterns were associated with anxiety symptoms.
Methods
We cross-sectionally tracked 141 participants aged 18–65 using their global positioning system (GPS) enabled smartphones for up to 7 days in the Netherlands. We estimated their location-dependent exposures for green space, fine particulate matter, and noise along their moving trajectories at 10-min intervals. The resulting time-resolved exposure sequences were then partitioned using multivariate time series clustering with dynamic time warping as the similarity measure. Respondents’ anxiety symptoms were assessed with the Generalized Anxiety Disorders-7 questionnaire. We fitted linear regressions to assess the associations between sequential exposure patterns and anxiety symptoms.
Results
We found four distinctive daily sequential exposure patterns across the participants. Exposure patterns differed in terms of exposure levels and daily variations. Regression results revealed that participants with a “moderately health-threatening” exposure pattern were significantly associated with fewer anxiety symptoms than participants with a “strongly health-threatening” exposure pattern.
Conclusions
Our findings support that environmental exposures’ daily sequence and short-term magnitudes may be associated with mental health. We urge more time-resolved mobility-based assessments in future analyses of environmental health effects in daily life.
Funder
China Scholarship Council
HORIZON EUROPE European Research Council
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health,General Business, Management and Accounting,General Computer Science