Temporal Trends in Air Pollution Exposure across Socioeconomic Groups in The Netherlands.

Air pollution exposure has been linked to detrimental health outcomes. While cross-sectional studies have demonstrated socioeconomic disparities in air pollution exposure, longitudinal evidence on these disparities remains limited. The current study investigates trends in residential air pollution exposure across socioeconomic groups in the Netherlands from 2014 to 2019. Our dataset includes over 12.5 million individuals, aged 18 years and above, who resided in the Netherlands between 2014 and 2019, using Statistics Netherlands data. The address-level air pollution concentrations were estimated by dispersion models of the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment. We linked the exposure estimations of particulate matter < 10 or <2.5 µm (PM10, PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) to household-level socioeconomic data. In highly urbanized areas, individuals from both the lowest and highest socioeconomic groups were exposed to higher air pollution concentrations. Individuals from the lowest socioeconomic group were disproportionally located in highly urbanized and more polluted areas. The air pollution concentrations of PM10, PM2.5, and NO2 decreased between 2014 and 2019 for all the socioeconomic groups. The decrease in the annual average air pollution concentrations was the strongest for the lowest socioeconomic group, although differences in exposure between the socioeconomic groups remain. Further research is needed to define the health and equity implications.

The magnitude of neurocognitive impairment is overestimated in depression: the role of motivation, debilitating momentary influences, and the overreliance on mean differences.

BACKGROUND: Meta-analyses agree that depression is characterized by neurocognitive dysfunctions relative to nonclinical controls. These deficits allegedly stem from impairments in functionally corresponding brain areas. Increasingly, studies suggest that some performance deficits are in part caused by negative task-taking attitudes such as poor motivation or the presence of distracting symptoms. A pilot study confirmed that these factors mediate neurocognitive deficits in depression. The validity of these results is however questionable given they were based solely on self-report measures. The present study addresses this caveat by having examiners assess influences during a neurocognitive examination, which were concurrently tested for their predictive value on performance. METHODS: Thirty-three patients with depression and 36 healthy controls were assessed on a battery of neurocognitive tests. The examiner completed the Impact on Performance Scale, a questionnaire evaluating mediating influences that may impact performance. RESULTS: On average, patients performed worse than controls at a large effect size. When the total score of the Impact on Performance Scale was accounted for by mediation analysis and analyses of covariance, group differences were reduced to a medium effect size. A total of 30% of patients showed impairments of at least one standard deviation below the mean. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms that neurocognitive impairment in depression is likely overestimated; future studies should consider fair test-taking conditions. We advise researchers to report percentages of patients showing performance deficits rather than relying solely on overall group differences. This prevents fostering the impression that the majority of patients exert deficits, when in fact deficits are only true for a subgroup.

A social identity approach to COVID-19 transmission in hospital settings.

The COVID-19 pandemic poses a substantial risk of disease spread among healthcare workers (HCWs), making it important to understand what impacts perceived risk of COVID-19 spread in hospital settings and what causes HCWs to mitigate COVID-19 spread by following COVID-19 safety measures. One determinant of risk perception and safe behaviors is the influence of seeing others as group members. The current study aims to (a) evaluate how social identification as an HCW and trust in co-workers may influence perceived risk of COVID-19 spread and (b) explore how communication transparency, trust in leaders, and identity leadership are associated with self-reported adherence to COVID-19 safety guidance. Using a correlational design, HCWs of a Scottish hospital were invited to participate in an online questionnaire measuring their perceptions of risk of COVID-19 transmission, measures of social identification as an HCW, perception of leaders as members of the team, trust in co-workers to follow the COVID-19 guidelines and perception of leaders to manage COVID-19 prevention effectively. Results showed that increased trust in co-workers was associated with reduced risk perception of COVID-19 transmission. Perceptions of transparent communication about COVID-19 were found to be associated with increased adherence to COVID-19 safety guidelines. Findings show the importance of the association between social identity processes and reduced risk perception and highlight the relationship between transparent communication strategies and self-reported adherence to COVID-19 guidelines, identity leadership, and trust in leaders to manage COVID-19 appropriately.